About the Recipe
Japanese sandwiches (or "sando" as the locals call them) are a subject in their own right. Unlike a Western sandwich, Japanese sando are made exclusively with white bread and the crusts are always removed. Of course, no self respecting tonkatsu would be complete without a little heap of shredded lettuce so that goes in the sando too along with some brown sauce and mustard. Wrapped in a paper serviette or some greaseproof, this recipe makes a great lunchbox filler or picnic.
Ingredients
1 medium egg
40 - 50g / 2 oz panko breadcrumbs
40g / 1.8 oz plain flour
about 2.5 cm /1 in of cucumber
4 - 6 small lettuce leave
2 thin boneless pork loin steaks
salt & pepper
4 thin slices of white bread
some English mustard
Japanese Bull-dog sauce
some vegetable oil for frying
a sheet of cling film
Preparation
break the egg into a bowl and beat well
thinly cut the cucumber into 8 - 10 slices
season the pork loin steaks with salt & pepper on both sides
cover the pork steak with the sheet of cling film, then lightly tenderise using the back of a kitchen knife
coat each pork steak in the plain flour. then coat in the beaten egg before coating them with the panko breadcrumbs
heat about 2cm /1 in of vegtable oil in a saucepan to 170 C / 338 F
fry your first tonkatsu for about 2-3 miinutes until the coating has turned a light golden brown
turn the tonkatsu over, adjust the heat if the oil goes over 180C / 350 F. fry the ktsu for another 2-3 minutes (depending on the thickness of pork steak you are using)
remove the katsu and rest on a rack. repeat for the second tonkatsu
once both your tonkatsu are ready, take 4 slices of bread and remove the crusts (you can retain these if you prefer but an authentic katsu sando has no crusts)
spread the English mustard over one slice of the bread, then place the tonkatsu on the mustard
next, spread some brown sauce or Japanese Bull-dog sauce over the tonkatsu
dress with the sliced cucumber and lettuce leaves and top with the second slice of bread
repeat for your second sandwich
serve immediately