sauce katsu don

Usually, katsu don is katsu (deep-fried breaded pork cutlet) + egg + onion + rice. This sauce katsu don has sweet & tangy sauce to it. Right after deep frying the pork, you dip it in the special sauce and you have both yummy taste and texture. (This recipe works best with thin pork slices.)

Ingredients:

Thin cut pork - 1/2 pound (0.5cm thick) **see TIPS

Flour - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 1 (or more, beaten)
Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) - 1 cup or as much as needed

[Sauce]
Onion - 1/2 medium (chopped)
Tonkatsu sauce - 1/2 cup
Mirin - 1 TBS
Cooking wine (optional) - 1 TBS
Brown sugar - 1 TBS
Water - 2 TBS
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Cabbage - 1/4 med (thinly sliced)
Rice

Prep:

1. Cook rice
2. Thinly slice cabbage. Wash, rinse and keep in the fridge until later. 
3. Thinly slice pork. Season with salt & pepper. 
4. Chop/mince onion. 

Cook:

1. [Katsu] Take seasoned thin sliced. Coat it with flour, dip in egg and lightly press on panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Repeat for all. 
2. [Sauce] In a small saucepan, fry chopped onion in 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in rest of the ingredients under sauce. Let it simmer for 15-20 min, until it thickens. 
3. In a stainless steel pot, heat 1/2 to 1 inch of vegetable oil. Test the oil by sprinkle some bread crumbs in and when it bubbles up, it's ready. It doesn't 'deep fry' the whole thing at once, so deep fry one side for 2-3 minutes then turn to the other side and deep fry for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. Take the cooked katsu onto paper toweled plate. 

 Serve:

1. Right before you eat, put rice in the bowl, top with sliced cabbage. 
2. Take the deep fried pork cutlets and dip it in the sauce. Top the cabbage (4-5 slices/bowl). Pour more sauce on top. 

 TIPS

• Pork can be thin slice. If it's very thin, then pile 2-3 slices together as one. 
• You can also use other meat - chicken, beef or ham (or bacon?)

sweet & sour meatballs

There are many recipes for sweet and sour sauce. You can also make it with any meat of your choice. This time round, I tried with meatballs. It turned out pretty good and my daughter loved it -- she loves balls, so it's a fun dish for kids. :) 

Ingredients:

[Meatballs]
Ground meat - 1 and half cups ** see TIPS
Breadcrumbs - 1/4 cup
Egg white - 1
Parsley (dry or fresh) - 2 TBS
Green onion - 1 TBS (chopped)
Salt & pepper - 1 tsp each
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

[Other ingredients]
Onion - 1/2 med (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Green bell pepper - 1 small (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Red or Yellow bell pepper - 1 small (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Sliced Pineapple - small can (drained)

[Sweet & Sour sauce]
Tomato Ketchup - 2 TBS
Plum sauce - 2 tsp
Rice vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Worcestershire sauce - 1/2 tsp
Oyster sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Corn starch - 1 tsp
Water - 2 TBS  

Prep:

1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.
2. Cut vegetables, mince garlic and drain pineapple can. 
3. Mix meatball ingredients in a bowl. Use hands to mix - it's fun! Make a 1-inch balls (smaller or bigger, depending on your preference).

Cook: 

1. In a wok, heat 2TBS of oil in a wok. When it's hot, fry the meatballs until they are nicely browned (3-5 minutes). Take it out on a plate. **see TIPS
2. In the same wok, heat 1 TBS of oil. Fry garlic and onion until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes). Add in green and red/yellow peppers. Fry for another 2 minutes. 
3. Add the meatballs in and mix well with onion and peppers. Fry for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Add in the mixed sauce. Uncover the wok and mix the sauce with meatballs and veggies. Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add in pineapple slices. Fry for another 2 minutes.

Serve:

1. Serve with rice and Chinese veggies. 

TIPS

• For ground meat, you can use pork, chicken or beef or combination of meat. I like to use chicken and pork. 
• You can also deep-fry the meatballs. Just lightly coat them with flour/corn starch mixture (1:1 ratio) and deep-fry until golden brown.

stuffed egg fry

Japanese call deep-fried panko coated food "fry" (fu-ra-i). I wanted to use eggs and this was the end result. :) It turned out better than I expected. It's easy and fun to prepare, so you can have your kids help out in the kitchen, too. It looks really cute (egg-shaped deep-fried food - so cute!), it'll definitely be a hit at potluck or party. 

Ingredients: 

(Makes 12 fried eggs)

Eggs - 6 (hard boiled)

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)
Carrots - 1 med (finely chopped)
Ham, Sausage, Bacon or SPAM - 1 cup full **see TIPS

Mayonnaise (Japanese) - 2 TBS
Corn starch - 1/2 TBS
Garlic salt - 1/2 tsp 

[Panko coating]
Flour - 1/2 cup
Egg - 2 (beaten)
Bread crumbs (panko) - 2-3 cups

Prep:

1. Boil eggs for 10-12 minutes. Take it out and set is aside or run it through cold water. Shell the eggs. Set it aside.
2. Chop onion, carrots and your choice of meat into small pieces. 

Cook:

1. Cut the eggs in half. Take the cooked yolk out and put it in a medium bowl.
2. Heat 1 TBS of olive oil the frying pan. Fry onion and carrots until carrots are nice and tender. a
3. Add in meat. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add in mayonnaise, corn starch and salt. The taste should be a little bit salty. Dish out the meat mixture into yolk bowl. 
5. Mix using spoon until it's easy to work with. 
6. In each egg white shell, take about 1 big tablespoonful of meat. Press it down using your hands like you're making a ball (or onigiri, if you know how to make it). Make sure you press it tightly. Repeat for the rest of the eggs. 
7. Coat each egg with flour, eggs and panko. The filling might drop off, so be gentle and hold the middle part as you coat them. 
8. Deep fry in vegetable oil (or half deep-fry and turn, to use less oil) until golden brown. **see TIPS 

 Serve:

1. Salad or pickled vegetables go well with this dish. Don't forget nice, hearty miso soup -- personally, it's a must-have for Japanese meals. :) 
2. Serve with tonkatsu (fruit & vegetable) sauce, or kojujyan sauce (from calamari salad recipe), or mayonnaise. 

TIPS:

• You can use one type of meat, or combination of meat. You just need 1 cup of chopped meat. If you don't have any of the mentioned meat, you can also use ground beef or pork. 
• When deep frying, make sure the oil is hot enough. Test it by sprinkling some panko in the oil. If it sizzles and floats, it's ready. If it sinks, wait a little longer. If the food is already cooked, you don't need long time to deep-fry. 
• Also, when deep frying at home, use smaller pots and less oil. Half deep-fried works great. Fill the pot 1-2 inch high.

glazed and sugar donuts

We eat donuts once a year on Halloween as part of family tradition. We used to get Krispy Kreme donuts when we lived in Utah and California, but there's no Krispy Kreme in Minnesota! So I looked and looked for donut recipes. The ones I had were all cake-like, so when I found this recipe, I was thrilled. It turned out really good and both my husband and daughter LOVED it. But we made double the recipe, so we had too many donuts and had some for dinner!

Ingredients: 

[Makes 12 good size donuts]

Active dry yeast - 1 envelope (0.25 ounce or 2 and 1/4 tsp)
Warm water - 2 TBS
Lukewarm milk - 3/4 cup
White sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg - 1
Shortening - 3 TBS
All-purpose flour - 2 and 1/2 cups

Vegetable oil for frying

[Glaze]
Butter - 1/3 cup
Confectioners' sugar - 2 cups
Vanilla - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Hot water - 3~4 TBS (as needed)

Prep:

1. Measure all ingredients. Set it aside. 
2. Warm milk in a pot until it's warm, about 1 minute.
3. Combine flour and salt together. 

Cook:

1. In a bowl, combine yeast and warm water. Let it sit for 5 minutes until it bubbles. It won't bubble if the water is too hot. 
2. Add shortening, sugar and half of flour mixture. Using dough mixture, knead for a minute or two. 
3. Add in egg, rest of flour and rest of milk and knead for 8-10 minutes on slower speed. 
4. Meanwhile, grease separate bowl with olive oil. When the dough is done, make one big bowl and put it in the greased bowl. Cover with kitchen towel and put in the warm place for about an hour until the size double.
5. Punch gently down a little bit. Separate the dough in 12 parts. Roll each dough into 1 inch diameter and about 5-inch in length. Take two ends and make a ring. Set it down on a flour surface.
6. Repeat for the rest of the dough. Cover with wet paper towel and place them in warm place and let it rise for second time for 30-45 minutes. 
7. [Glaze] While you are waiting for the donuts to rise, make the glaze. Melt the butter in a pot. Remove from heat and add in vanilla and confectioner's sugar. Add in 1 TBS of water. Mix well. Add in rest of water (1 TBS at a time) and keep mixing until it thickens.
8. Use 4 or 5 quart pot. Fill half the pot with vegetable oil. If you have thermometer, heat to 350 F. If you don't, wait for 8-10 minutes under medium heat. 
9. Fry raised donuts for 2 minutes on one side and flip for another 2 minutes. 
10. Take it out on paper towel-ed plate or wire rack. 

After 2n rise. Use your fingers to make the hole bigger before frying

Deep fry until golden brown

Serve:

1. While it's hot, glaze the donut (one side or all over)
2. If you prefer sugar donuts, roll the donuts in white sugar. 
3. If you want chocolate glazed, heat 2 TBS of shortening and 2/3 cup of chocolate chips. Heat in microwave for about a minute. Mix well and glaze the donuts. 

Sugar donuts, chocolate glaze (with and w/o walnuts)

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. :) 

hidden valley ranch fried chicken

I was looking through my pantry today and found a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix. I thought, "hmm... I wonder if I can make fried chicken out of this thing." So I went to the Hidden Valley official website and found this recipe! It turned out good, but I think it'll go much better with chicken with skin more than boneless, skinless chicken breast. But the taste was great! 

Ingredients: 

Whole Chicken (3 pounds) or 4 chicken breasts - cut into 8 pieces (rinsed and patted dry)
Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing - 2 cups
Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp
All-purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Prep: 

1. If you are using a whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, wash and pat dry. If you are using chicken breasts, you can cut into thinner slices (cut in half) or into bite size pieces.
2. Prepare Hidden Valley original ranch dressing if you are making from a packet. 
3. In a shallow pan or in Ziplock bag, marinade chicken pieces with ranch dressing. Let is sit for at least an hour. 

Cook:

1. Remove chicken from the dish. Shake off any excess marinade. Discard any leftover marinade. On a large plate, mix flour, salt and pepper. Roll each piece of chicken in the seasoned flour.
2. In a pot or skillet, heat 1 inch deep vegetable oil. When it's ready (sprinkle some flour in the oil and when it bubbles and floats, it's ready), fry for 4 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other - or until golden brown.

Serve: 

1. Grilled veggies go perfectly with the fried chicken. 

karaage (japanese-style fried chicken)

Do you need one more dish on your dinner table? This dish just need 5 min prep., let it sit in the fridge for awhile and take it out to fry 10 minutes before dinner! You can try out different marinades (see TIPS). This is also good as party finger food.

Ingredients: 

Chicken - 1 lbs (your favorite cut, preferably with skin on for crunchiness)

[Marinade]
Soy sauce - 3 TBS
Mirin - 1 TBS
Salt & balck pepper - 1 tsp each
White or brown sugar - 1/2 TBS
Cornstarch - 2 TBS
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Ginger - 2 tsp (minced)

Corn starch - For dipping
Oil for frying

I used yakiniku sauce 1/3 cup + 1 tsp mirin + 1 tsp soy sauce

Prep:

1. Cut chicken into 2 inch bite size pieces. 
2. In a big Ziplock bag or in a bowl, combine chicken and add in marinades and massage the chicken in the marinade. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour (half a day or overnight is good, too)

Going to the fridge for few hours!

Cook:

1. Heat oil in a pot. **see TIPS
2. Put cornstarch on a plate/bowl. Roll each marinaded chicken pieces on cornstarch.
3. Fry until golden brown. Flip one.

Serve:

1. Serve with other main dish 
2. Ketchup tastes good on it, too. 

TIPS

• You can use leftover yakiniku sauce for marinade (omit soy sauce & mirin)
• For deep-frying, you can use less oil by using just enough to cover half of the chicken pieces. or you can make the chicken pieces smaller for shorter cook time.

japanese croquettes (made with leftovers)

Do you have leftover meat from previous meal sitting in the fridge? Or do you have only one piece of frozen chicken in the freezer? Japanese croquettes can easily give those leftovers some make-over! Plus, it's deep-fried. :) Who doesn't like deep-fried food, right?

Ingredients: 

(to make 6 medium-sized croquettes)

Potatoes - 3 medium
Milk (2 tsp) or Butter (1/2 TBS)
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Leftover meat - 1/2 cup
**I used ground beef/Italian sausage from yesterday's lasagna
**See TIPS

[Original recipe for meat]

Ground beef - 1/4 lbs
Onion - 1/2 (of small - minced finely)
Salt & pepper - to taste

[Deep-fry batter]

Flour - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1 (beaten)
Japanese bread crumbs (panko) - 2 cups

Oil for deep frying - about 2 to 3 cups

[Sauce]
Tonkatsu sauce
Thai chili sauce
Ketchup
BBQ sauce
Mayonnaise

Prep:

1. Boil water in a 5-quart pot (half full). Peel potatoes, cut into 2-inch chunks. When the water is ready, boil potatoes for 15 minutes. It's done when you can insert a wooden stick easily.Mash the potatoes and add milk or butter.
2. If you are making your own meat, heat 1/2 TBS of oil in a frying pan. Fry onion until slightly golden brown, add ground beef. Season with salt and pepper. Let it cool and drain if there's excess oil. 
3. In three separate bowls, put flour, beaten egg and panko. Set it aside.

Mashed potatoes + leftover lasagna meat

Cook:

1. If you are using leftover meat, microwave for 1 minute. 
2. Mix leftover meat with mashed potatoes.
3. Divide the potato mixture into 6. Make oval shapes (or any shape you want). Make sure you pat it tightly. If it's too loose, it separates during deep frying. 
4. [Deep-fry Batter] Coat the croquette with flour, dip in beaten egg, and lastly coat with panko bread crumbs. 
5. Heat 2-3 cups of oil in a 5-quart pot. If you are using smaller pot, fill only half. If you are using frying pan, also fill it halfway. 
6. Fry croquettes until golden brown. Turn once after two minutes. **See TIPS

You can make it smaller or bigger. You can also try different shapes.

1. Flour 2. Egg 3. Panko

Bubbles = good deep-frying

Serve: 

1. Serve with your choice of sauce: tonkatsu sauce (also known as bulldog sauce), thai chili sauce, ketchup, BBQ sauce or combination of sauces! It goes well with anything.
2. Serve with rice and some vegetable side dish. 

TIPS

• If you are using frozen meats, just follow the original recipe for meat (see under Prep)
• Deep-frying - you don't have to completely immerse the croquette with oil. As long as it's deep-frying halfway, then it should be fine. 
• Make sure your oil is hot before you fry (or else your croquettes will forever sink in oil, which you don't want). Test the oil by sprinkling some bread crumbs in it. If it bubbles up and floats, then it's ready! If it sinks, the oil is not ready. 

kushikatsu (japanese-style of deep-fried kebab)

Deep fried food is sometimes troublesome, but not when you make it small. Kushi katsu means katsu (deep fried meat like pork or chicken) on a stick. It's perfect for parties and for appetizers. You can dip in any sauce you like. It's easy to prepare and you can have your whole family to help out.

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts - 3 (cut in 1 inch cubes)
Quails eggs - 2 dozen
* See TIPS

Salt & Pepper

Flour - 1 cup (or more if needed)
Eggs - 2 (beaten)
Japanese Bread crumbs (panko) - 2 cups

Oil for deep fry

[Sauce]

Thai chili sauce
Tonkatsu sauce or bulldog fruit sauce
Chili sauce
BBQ sauce

Wooden sticks - as many as needed (can be long or short) 

Prep:

1. In a pot of boiling water, boil quails eggs until done (about 15-20 minutes). 
2. Cut chicken breasts in 1 inch cubes.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. On each stick, put two eggs or two chicken pieces. Set it aside. 

Cook: 

1.  Coat each stick with flour, eggs and Japanese bread crumbs. 
2. In a small saucepan, pour enough oil to cover little bit more than half of the pot. 
3. When the oil is ready (you can know this by sprinkling some panko into the pot and if it bubbles up and floats, it's ready. If it sinks, it's not.), deep fry until golden brown. It's better to do it 3 or 4 at a time. Place them on the paper towel-ed plate. 

Serve: 

1. Dip in your favorite sauce and eat with rice. 

TIPS

• You can use other ingredients such as pork, beef, meatballs, veggies, or even cubes of cheese! Experiment different things. :)