When Nick and I lived in Japan last summer one of our most favorite meals was pork katsu with tonkatsu sauce. Recently I was thinking back about this meal and decided to look up a recipe online and quickly realized it was quite simple to recreate. I’m so glad I decided to make this because it was very delicious and a great reminder of Japan.

Ingredients:

Pork Katsu:
2 pork cutlets
2 Tbsp flour
1 egg
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/3 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt, pepper
1/4 cup oil
1 cup shredded cabbage (optional)

Tonkatsu Sauce:
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp water

Directions:

  1. Prepare the Tonkatsu sauce by combining the ketchup, Worcestershire, sugar and water. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved, set aside in refrigerator while prepping pork.
  2. Place the pork cutlets between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap and pound them with a meat pounder until about 1/4 inch thick.
  3. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat the egg. Spread the flour and Panko on 2 separate plates. Season the flour with the garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt, and pepper. Also, season the pork cutlets with salt on both sides. Then dip the pork first into the flour, then the egg and last the Panko (coating both sides). Press the Panko into the pork so it stays put.

  4. Pan fry the pork, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just hot and then add the oil. Add the cutlets and fry, turning once, until golden brown on both sides and just opaque at the center (you don’t want to overcook pork) – this should take approximately 5 minutes on each side.

  5. Remove from heat and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Serve on a bed of shredded cabbage with the Tonkatsu sauce drizzled on top. Enjoy!