crumbs!

One of the things I usually order when I'm at a Japanese restaurant is tonkatsu (amongst everything else on the menu). This is basically a Japanese version of the pork schnitzel.

What makes the tonkatsu super yummy is the panko breadcrumbs and the 'bulldog' sauce. Panko breadcrumbs are the supercharged, more glamorous and super crispy version of the bog standard breadcrumbs. You can usually pick up a bag at any Japanese or oriental store.

Feeling inspired, I made tonkatsu one night for dinner. Now that I know the amount of oil used to fry this thing, I'll be less inclined to order it next time I find myself at a Japanese restaurant. Nonetheless it's a quick meal when you're short on time.

dust with cornflour

dip in whisked egg seasoned with salt & pepper

cover in panko breadcrumbs before deepfrying

fry til golden brown

the finished product

dipping sauce for tonkatsu

tonkatsu
created: 1 September 2011

[ingredients]:

• 3 pieces of pork minute steaks (you can substitute this for chicken breast fillets)
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp corn flour
• 1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
• pinch of salt and pepper

[method]:

• Place cornflour in one bowl
• Crack the egg and gently whisk in another bowl
• Add a pinch of salt and pepper to the egg to season
• Pour the panko breadcrumbs in another bowl
• First coat a piece of the pork steak in cornflour
• Then dip into the egg mixture
• Finally dip the pork into the panko breadcrumbs and pat firmly, ensuring that the pork is fully covered in breadcrumbs.
• Repeat process for the remaining pieces of pork.
• In a wok or deep fry pan, pour in 1 litre of canola oil and heat. When the oil is hot, simply lower the pork steak into the hot oil. Fry for approximately 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.
• Repeat with the remaining pieces of pork. 
• Serve with bulldog sauce and a side salad.

**Do not fry all pork steaks in one go as this will lower the temperature of the oil resulting in an oilier finished product.


Serves: 2


Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

a sultan's feast

I used to plan our holidays based on a list of must do 'sights'. 

Nowadays, I plan our holidays based on a list of must 'eats'. 

When we finally booked our trip to Turkey in July this year, I started researching all the sights we had to do but more importantly all the things we had to eat. As we only had a short amount of time in the country, I wanted to make sure we ate everything and missed nothing.

turkish coffee & tea

The Turkish love their food and it's not hard to see why. Some of the food we ate along the way were abit "adventurous" and you really need to go in with an open mind (and mouth) to truly experience all that is offered.

our breakfast consisted of simit (turkish bagel) and cheese

We ate a lot on our trip to Turkey. But then we usually eat a lot regardless of where we are in the world. 

assortment of baklava

kokorec - sweetbreads wrapped in lambs intestines

If you are short on time in Turkey but want to immerse yourself in the local food culture that Turkey has to offer, I would definitely recommend our walking culinary tour with Istanbul Eats. 
Angelis Nannos, our guide (native Greek) and fellow food aficionado was so passionate about his adoptive city and its food offerings that it's hard not to fall in love with all things Turkish.

some turkish dates

red lentil soup

turkish pide which I had a hand in making

sebzeli doner kebab from bereket - supremely tasty

boza (fermented millet) topped with roasted chick peas

lunch @ siirt seref buryan - entrees

lunch @ siirt seref buryan - mains

lunch @ siirt seref buryan - desserts. the last dessert on 
the right was actually made from very finely shredded 
chicken breast!

The 'culinary secrets of the old city' tour lasted around 6 hours, cost USD125, but the memories were priceless.


Oh and did I mention we also made it in the Washington Post?! Have a look at the article here.

this little piggy went to market...

I love all cured meats. Proscuitto, capocollo, chorizo, bresaola - you name it, I will eat it.

But my greatest love of all would have to be jamon iberico and I know many others out there will agree with me.

I was bored one day...as you do being a stay at home 'homemaker' and online shopping is my greatest ally in that fight against boredom. A couple days before I was tossing up the idea of buying a whole jamon - stand and all to appease my craving for the stuff, but rather than breaking the bank in one click of the mouse, I settled for a sampler pack instead. To give some perspective, the sampler pack set me back around £30 whereas the entire jamon would have set me back around £450!

The sampler pack consisted of four types of cuts:

D.O Guijuelo ham (jamon)

D.O Guijuelo shoulder ham (paleta)

Chorizo Iberico Bellota

Lomo Iberico Bellota

We devoured pretty much all of them (with the exception of the chorizo) within the first 3 days of our package arriving from Barcelona.

Verdict? Whilst jamon iberico is well renown for being the king of hams, I must admit that I preferred the paleta. The paleta is not very well known outside of Spain but is the preferred cut by locals. Not only is the smell and taste more pungent but the cost effectiveness of the paleta versus the jamon has definitely won my vote. 

D.O Guijuelo jamon

(L) Lomo Iberico; (R) D.O Guijuelo paleta

Buy your ham through Hamlovers.