Pork Katsu Donburi

I have a sick kid in my house. We've spent yesterday and today on the couch watching TV and movies. Normally I don't let him sit and zone out to TV all day, but I figure lazing around will help him get better. I think I've watched enough Disney Channel, PBS Kids, and Noggin over the past two days to last me quite awhile. Actually I've just been hanging out reading food blogs, playing on Facebook, and basically being incredibly unproductive. Plus being home for two days straight is helping me get the baby in a routine which I've been dying to do, so that part of it all has been pretty nice.

I'm super excited for the dinner I'm making tonight. Jen B. made it last week and got it from the blog Meal Planning 101, which thanks to Jen, is now one of my favorite cooking/food blogs. Good find, Jen! When I saw the recipe on Jen's blog I knew I had to make it--and soon! Luckily I was planning on buying pork chops at Costco this week, so I knew I'd have everything for it. There was a little Japanese take-out restaurant near my house growing up, and they had awesome chicken katsu donburi. My whole family loved it. I don't know if I've ever had it with pork, so I'm excited to try this.

I have to mention the benefits of meal planning since I linked to a meal planning blog. I've been doing it for years now. It used to be--back when the husband and I were DINKs--I'd make whatever sounded good on the way home from work, which a lot of times meant stopping at the store to get ingredients. It got very expensive. It wasn't that we couldn't afford to eat like that, I just thought it was ridiculous how much we were spending on groceries each month for two people. So I started planning out meals for the week. Then after awhile I took it one step further and planned out our dinners based on what was on sale at the grocery store that week. That's how I still do it. Normally I spend around $50 a week on groceries, if I'm buying meat (which I only buy when it's on sale) it's usually around $70. I try to match coupons to items that are on sale as well, but I don't buy a whole lot of packaged/processed foods, so I don't always use that many.

Anyway, on to the recipe. I'm so excited for this!!!

Pork Katsu Donburi
2-4 pork loin chops
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs (try not to substitute or the result will not be the same)
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken broth
6 shitake mushrooms, sliced into strips (you can substitute regular button mushrooms)
1 carrot, julienned (I am using a frozen Asian Veggie Blend with carrots instead)
2 tbsp white sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped green onions
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooked rice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Cover the pieces of pork in plastic wrap and using a meat tenderizer, bash the meat until the piece is about 1/4 inch thick. Make sure you flip it over and do the other side as well. Do this to all your pieces. Then cut pork into cutlet sized portions, if needed. Now that your pieces of pork are cut and tenderized, season both sides with salt and pepper. In three separate bowls put flour in the first, beaten eggs in the second and Panko breadcrumbs in the third. Dredge each piece of pork in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and place on a baking sheet with a baking rack on it. Drizzle lightly with oil and place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip the pork, drizzle the other side lightly with oil and then place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

While pork is cooking chop veggies (or follow stir fry directions for cooking frozen veggies). In a large frying pan set to medium-high heat saute the onion in oil for 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and carrot and stir-fry a couple more minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, sugar, soy sauce and salt and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle in half of the green onions, stirring gently.

When pork comes out of the oven, cut into strips.

Turn the heat down to medium-low for the veggies and pour beaten eggs over the mixture, stirring a bit to incorporate the sauce and egg. Gently add the pork over the top and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the eggs are cooked. You may need to add a lid for part of the cooking time to get the eggs to cook through on top.

To serve, scoop rice into four bowls. Divide pork and veggie mixture into four, and place on top of rice. Garnish with a little more chopped green onion. Serve immediately!

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Doesn't this sound sooooo yummy?! I seriously cannot wait for dinner tonight! I have a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies I'm going to use, and I bought regular button mushrooms because they were on sale. Although I don't think I bought green onions this week, so mine will just have to do without. Jen said that she toasted some sesame seeds and sprinkled those on the top before serving, so I may give that a go. If we weren't all wearing jammies today I'd maybe run to the store and pick up some green onions, but that would require me wearing something other than yoga pants, a t-shirt, and fluffy pink socks.

*****

Mmmmm...this was really good!! I will definitely be making this again. Jen had said she mixed some chili paste into the egg wash, and I think next time I'll try to remember to do that. The pork was good on its own, but a little extra kick would have made it even better. I used half a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies which worked out fine. Under normal circumstances I think this would all come together really fast, but the baby needed to eat, so I fed him while the pork was cooking, which meant I didn't start on the veggie/egg mixture until after the pork was done. Overall we really liked it. The boy didn't eat much, but he's had a nasty cold, but I think under normal circumstances he would eat it and enjoy it.