Menchi Katsu

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients.

Step 2

Mince the onion.

Step 3

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and saute onion until translucent and golden brown.

Step 4

Transfer the onion to a large bowl and set aside to cool.

Step 5

In the large bowl with the onion, add the ground meat, 2 Tbsp panko, 1 Tbsp milk, 1 large egg, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Step 6

Knead well with hands until the meat mixture becomes pale and sticky.

Step 7

Roughly divide the mixture into 6 balls.

Step 8

Toss each ball from one hand to the other hand repeatedly about 5 times in order to release air inside the ball so the meat patty won’t break when you deep fry.

Step 9

Now shape each ball into an oval shape patty and place on a plate. Cover with plastic and rest in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes in order to solidify the fat.

Step 10

Prepare 3 separate bowls: flour, beaten eggs, and panko. Dredge and coat each patty in flour, egg, and panko.

Step 11

When you are coating panko, fix the patties into a nice oval shape.

Step 12

Heat the oil to 340ºF (170ºC) and gently place the patties into the oil. Do not crowd the oil as meat patties will decrease the oil temperature too fast.

Step 13

Deep fry for 3 minutes on each side (total 6 minutes). For the first 2 minutes, don’t touch the patties as they are soft and easy to break.

Step 14

Drain oil for 1-2 minutes and the remaining heat will cook inside the patty. Pick up the crumbs in the oil as they darken the oil and stick to the new patties.

Step 15

Serve immediately with tonkatsu sauce, Worcestershire sauce, the combination of the two sauces, or the homemade tartar sauce.

Step 16

Let cool Menchi Katsu completely and store in an airtight container. You can freeze for up to a month. When you're ready to eat, reheat at 350ºF (180ºC) in the oven. It's more difficult to deep fry frozen raw patties until they are cooked through. Therefore, I recommend deep frying the patties first before freezing them.