Two T’s in Japanese! Tamagoyaki & Tonkatsu – Video!

I must have been Japanese in another life, but you wouldn’t know it by the first time I ate sushi when I turned green and promptly spit into my napkin. Luckily, I overcame my silliness and became a HUGE fan of Japanese food and not just sushi.

Many folks don’t know that the Japanese are masters at the grill and the fryer, but that is another post altogether! Psyche.

This post is about Tamago or as Yuko corrected me, Tamagoyaki and Tonkatsu. Nope these aren’t the names of my favorite Animé characters, but two of my favorite Japanese comfort foods.

As you will find out in the video, I commandeered my friend Yuko and made her do a video with me. I think she actually had a bit of Stockholm syndrome and ended up loving it!

THE FACTS

Tamagoyaki is an egg dish which involves cooking thin layers of beaten egg and folding them over each other to create a little layered egg pillow. You are probably more familar with “Tamago”, which is this little egg fold omelette that has been cut into little rectangles and served as sushi. In Japan there are many different recipes for Tamago or Tamagoyaki. Yuko’s is extremely simple.

Here is the recipe that is probably used more commonly for Tamago in Sushi restaurants:

3 eggs
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. mirin (Whole Foods has it)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. light or regular soy sauce
Canola oil for for the pan

Tonkatsu is simply a thin pork cutlet that is breaded with Panko crumbs and pan fried. It is served with a delicious thick dark brown sauce called Tonkatsu sauce which you can order online here! One thing I didn’t show in the video is that Yuko made small cuts all along the fatty side of the pork cutlet so that it wouldn’t buckle and become a pork bowl instead of a cutlet when fried.

Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs that are very coarse and crunchy. I am not sure if this is true, but I read that they run an electric current through the loaf of bread to ensure that the bread has no crust. I have to see this!

Thank you Yuko! Yuko lives in Kobe, Japan and has become a dear friend. She didn’t want to be on camera, so I am very grateful that she gave in. She has a smile that would light up a stadium and a beautiful disposition. I hope she moves to SF soon!