Katsu sando

Step 1

To make the white cabbage, soak the cabbage in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Step 2

To make the chicken katsu, place the cornflour and a pinch of salt in a wide shallow bowl. Place the eggs and breadcrumbs in two separate wide shallow bowls. Dust the chicken thighs in the cornflour mixture, dip in the egg and then coat in the breadcrumbs. Heat the vegetable oil to 180C in a deep saucepan or deep fat fryer. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Fry the chicken katsu for 2–3 minutes on each side. Carefully transfer to kitchen paper to drain and season with a pinch of salt. If adding the egg, cut a small hole out of the center of the chicken (about the same width as the quail egg).

Step 3

To make the nanban sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and cook until the volume of the liquid is reduced by half. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Step 4

To make the tartare sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix very well.

Step 5

If using the quails' eggs, bring a saucepan of water to a simmer, then cook the eggs for 2 minutes 30 seconds, then plunge into a bowl of iced water. Remove and discard the shells.

Step 6

To make the katsu sando, place the bread slices on a chopping board. Spread the tartare sauce on two slices of the bread and the nanban sauce on the other two slices. Put the white cabbage and pickled cucumber on the bread slices with the nanban sauce and top with some of the tonkatsu sauce, reserving some for the other bread slices. Place the fried chicken katsu on the bread slices with the tartare sauce, place the quail egg in the hole, if using, and top with the reserved tonkatsu sauce. Gently sandwich together the two halves of the katsu sando together to create two sandwiches and lightly press down.

Step 7

Using a very sharp bread knife, cut all four sides of the crusts off from both sandwiches, wipe the knife and cut the sandwiches in half through the egg. For each serving, put the two halves together on a plate, sliced sides facing up. Serve with some pickles.