asparagus roll katsu

Deep-fried food can be challenging, but with this thin cut meat, you don't have to let the food swim in the oil for a long time. If you are looking to add some veggies to your kids' meal, deep fried food is the way to go. I used asparagus this time, but you can also use other ingredients listed under option. 

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin or pork chop - 1/2 lbs
Asparagus - 8 (cut the end and skinned)

[Basic katsu batter]
Flour - 1 cup
Egg - 2 (beaten lightly)
Breadcrumbs - 1~2 cups

Oil for deep fry

[Optional rollable ingredients]
Carrots (cut into 3 inches, 0.5 cm in diameter) **see TIPS
Enoki mushroom
Gobo(Burdock) - cut same as carrots
Sliced cheese **see TIPS
SPAM or ham - cut the same as carrots

Prep:

1. Pluck the end of the asparagus. Skin them and cut them in half. 
2. Cut about 1cm thick of meat. Prepare 2 saran wrap. Lay the pork in between the two wraps. Using the meat tenderizer, rolling pin or anything you can use to hit the meat. Hit (it's a great way to relieve your stress!) the meat until it gets to 0.3cm to 0.5 cm thick. It will get more pliable as it gets thinner. You should have eight slices of meat.

Cook:

1. On a thinly-hit meat, put one asparagus (which has been cut in half, so two sticks) on one side and roll it up. Repeat until you make 8 rolls.
2. Hold onto the open end as you roll on flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. 
3. Use a stainless steel pot for deep frying. Add in 2 inch thick of oil (can be half-deep fried). The oil is ready when you sprinkle some breadcrumbs in and it bubbles & floats up. 
4. Deep fry one side for about 2 minutes, then flip and deep fry for another 2 minutes or until golden brown. 

Serve:

1. Serve with tonkatsu sauce, mayonnaise, or combination of both. It's also great with sweet Thai chili sauce. 

TIPS

• For veggies like carrots and burdock, cut into 3 inch length, 0.5cm diameter. You can blanch the veggies for 1 minutes and cool before rolling on the meat. 
• Make sure cheese slices fits in the rolls and no excessively coming out of the meat. Cheese and oil are not very good friends. :)