Katsu Sando

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients.

Step 2

In a large frying pan, add 1 cup panko and 1 ½ Tbsp of oil and turn the heat to medium to medium-high.

Step 3

Lift the pan and shake it once in a while to evenly toast the panko.

Step 4

Once the panko is getting darker, keep shaking the pan to get even color. Once the panko is nicely brown, transfer to the tray.

Step 5

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). For a convection oven, reduce cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC).

Step 6

Remove the extra fat and make a couple of slits on the connective tissue between the meat and fat. The reason why you do this is that red meat and fat have different elasticity, and when they are cooked they will shrink and expand at different rates. This will allow Tonkatsu to stay nice and flat when deep frying and prevent it from curling up.

Step 7

Pound the meat with a meat pounder. If you don’t have one, just use the back of a knife to pound. When using a knife, crisscross by first pounding top to bottom then left to right.

Step 8

Mold the extended meat back into original shape with your hands. Season the meat with salt and pepper.

Step 9

In a large bowl or plate, add ½ Tbsp of oil for each egg you use and whisk them up. By adding oil, the meat and breaded coating won’t detach from each other while deep frying.

Step 10

Dredge in flour and remove excess flour.

Step 11

Dip in egg mixture. Dredge in panko.

Step 12

Press panko onto the meat and transfer to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper or even better if you have an oven-safe wire rack (as air goes through on the bottom so panko doesn’t get crushed).

Step 13

Bake at 400ºF (200ºC) until the pork is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the tonkatsu from the oven.

Step 14

Thinly shred the cabbage leaf.

Step 15

Spread the butter on both bread slices (butter would act as a waterproof guard so sandwich doesn’t get soggy). Spread Dijon mustard on top of butter on one side.

Step 16

Spread the Katsu Sauce on the other side.

Step 17

Put the thinly shredded cabbage evenly on the Dijon mustard side. Then drizzle Katsu Sauce over the cabbage.

Step 18

Place the tonkatsu on top of the cabbage and top with the other bread. Place the sandwich between two plates for 5 minutes.

Step 19

Cut off the crust of the bread and cut in half.

Step 20

Serve the Katsu Sando on a plate or box.