Katsudon

This is a Japanese dish, a rice bowl. My husband told me the other day that this was his favorite thing when living in Japan. I was thrilled to make something for him that was his "favorite". He pretty much loves everything and doesn't often request a dish. Also, I currently have a guest living with me from Japan. He is just here for a month, so I was nervous about whether or not this was going to taste American-Japanese, or authentic. Yuske told me it tasted just like his mothers! That made my day. I will warn you, this is not a healthy dish. It's Japanese comfort food, and we all loved it!

This dish is usually made with pork, but we did the chicken version. Also, it's best when each bowl is served individually. I was nervous about this too. I thought it would take forever, but it actually went pretty smooth. Some prep work ahead of time helped. I will give you the recipe for 1, so if you are serving more, you will just repeat the process. So, here we go:

For the chicken:
1 chicken breast
1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tbs flour
more flour for dredging
panko bread crumbs
oil for frying (enough to come up a few inches in your pan)

Pound the chicken a little to thin it out. Maybe 1/2 inch or so.

Heat oil.

Dredge the chicken in the flour, then dip it in the egg mixture. Let the excess fall off and then coat in the Panko bread crumbs. (these are Japanese bread crumbs and are much crispier) Drop in your oil and let it cook. Once it gets golden brown on one side, flip it over until the other side is the same. Set aside and slice.

For the sauce:

1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon granulated Dashi (Japanese Soup Stock-found at your local asian/oriental market)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon sugar
1 to 2 oz sliced onion, about a handful
1 lightly beaten egg
1 bowl of prepared rice

Combine the water, dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and onion in a small pan. When it begins to boil, add the chicken.






Then pour the egg on top and around the chicken. Cover and cook for about 90 seconds until the egg is just set.
Then slide the contents of the pan onto the rice (which you've already put in the bowl).






And there you have it!

Okay, so here's how I made it easier on myself:

First I prepared all the sauces. I took 5 bowls and put the sauce ingredients with the onions into each one.

Next, I did all the chicken. It took about 2 beaten eggs mixed with 1 1/2 tbs of flour. I did fry them 2 at a time so the pan did not get crowded. I put some flour for dredging on one plate and the panko on another and added more if I needed to.

Once I had all the chicken done and set aside, I started on each bowl. As the sauce was heating up, I beat 1 egg. When the sauce was boiling, I added the chicken and the egg. Then cover it and put some rice in a bowl. By this time, your dish was about done and you could top off your rice.

I just had my family begin eating so no one's got cold. And we still ate together as a family.

This is definitely a more involved dish. I would love to know if you try it!

A huge shout out to mamaloli. This is where I found an awesome recipe, and she was kind enough to answer all of my questions. She's got lots of great dishes on her site too.