Tonkatsu Curry Rice

(Japanese curry with fried pork and rice)

I really love this dish, how can anyone resist the lovely smell of the curry and crunchy crust and soft meat of the pork make my mouth watering. This dish is so easy, starting by sauté the onion, the carrot and the potato (we don’t need any meat here because we will eat it with Tonkatsu (a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet)). Pour the water, let it boil until the potato and carrot are soften, then add the curry roux (a ready-made japanese curry sauce mix).

The Curry Roux

Let the curry simmer for an hour (if you read the package, you may find a word like “cook for 10 minutes” but believe me, you have to let the flavor of the curry penetrate into the ingredient, the curry will be thicken and the delicious smell will linger in your kitchen too). While the curry is simmering, prepare the rice (I have a rice cooker so it easy for me). The Tonkatsu is not hard to make (or you can buy the ready made one), just season, bread and deep fried the pork.

When all the thing are done, put the rice in a bowl, cut the Tonkatsu, place it in the bowl and pour the curry over the rice and you get the very delicious one plate meal.

Tonkatsu Curry Rice

Serve 5 as a big bowl happy meal

Curry
2	Onion (sliced)
2	Medium size potato (peeled and cut into 2 cm cube)
1	Carrot (peeled and cut into 2 cm cube)
9 blocks	Japanese curry roux (I use medium hot)
4-5 tbsp (optional)	Brown sugar (I find the taste will be very smooth than using white sugar, this is for the one who like the taste of lightly sweet curry that we usually find in Japanese restaurants )
1500-1700 ml	Water
1-2 tbsp	Oil (for sauté the onion)
Tonkatsu
5 pieces	Pork loin steak (pound with meat mallet)
1	Egg (lightly beaten)
	Plain flour
	Bread crumbs
	Salt and pepper
	Oil for deep fry
Rice (enough to serve 5 persons)

To make the curry:

Start by setting the pot over medium heat; pour the oil and sauté the onion until fragrant and soft. Put the carrot and potato into the pan and sauté a little more, pour 1500 ml of water in the pot, let it boil until the carrot and potato are soft. Lower the heat then put the curry roux in the pot (you may chop it to make it dissolve more quickly). When the curry roux already dissolves, taste the curry, add the brown sugar more or less to your taste (add only a tablespoon at the time until you get a balance of sweet and salty). Let the curry simmering for 1 hour until it thicken, and the carrot and potato seen to fall apart, you can add more water if it’s too thick.

To make the tonkatsu:

Salt and pepper on both sides of the meat.

Put egg, flour, bread crumbs in 3 separate trays. Dredge flour on both sides of the meat. Pat off excess flour then dip into beaten egg.
Sprinkle Spread meat onto bread crumbs. Cover top of meat with crumbs and press.

Pour the oil into frying pan, start frying when oil temperature reaches 180°C. When meat starts to brown, lower the temperature. Continue to fry until the tonkatsu is lightly golden.

Take the tonkatsu from the oil, pat with paper towel then cut into bite size slices.

To finish:

Put the rice in the bowl, place the tonkatsu on the rice, pour the curry on top, and serve immediately.

The Curry Roux come in a block; it dissolves very easy in the hot water.