Recipe: Katsudon (Tonkatsu Over Rice or 가스동)

Continuing the tonkatsu series after the hammer and beer tonkatsu recipe, today's recipe is a perennial Japanese favorite- katsudon.

For those unfamiliar with katsudon, it's a tasty rice bowl dish (called donburi in Japanese or deop bap "덮밥" in Korean) in which rice is topped with cooked onions, tonkatsu, and beaten eggs in a sweet and salty sauce. "Katsu" (勝つ) actually means "win" in Japanese so some in Japan enjoy it as a meal before an important event, exam, match, etc. But superstitious reasons aside, it's simple yet damn delicious. It's of course best if you make your tonkatsu fresh for the dish but if you've got some tonkatsu leftover, you can whip up a bowl of katsudon in a pinch for a quick but delicious meal.

Try it out!

Katsudon (가쓰돈)

Makes 2 Servings

- 2 Tonkatsu, fully cooked and sliced

- 1/2 an Onion, sliced thinly

- 1 cup of Stock (Dashi stock is made by boiling dried laver and/or dried katsuobushi and takes little time and effort. Just boil a few small pieces of dried laver and a bit of katsuobushi in a pot with 2-3 cups of water and boil on medium-high for 20-30 minutes. A simple vegetable or chicken stock will probably work if you're in a pinch)

- 3 tbsp of Soy Sauce

- 2 tbsp of Sugar

- 1-2 tbsp of Mirin (I substitute with Maeshil juice)

- 3 Eggs, beaten

- Enough cooked Rice for two bowls (Fresh cooked rice is best but if you're using leftover rice, make sure the rice is hot)

- Seaweed flakes (Optional)

- Chopped Green Onion (Optional)

- Sesame Seeds (Optional)

1.  Mix together the stock, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin/maeshil juice. Taste and adjust to your liking. It should be sweet and salty. Beat together your egg in a separate bowl and set aside. 

2. You'll be making your katsudon in two batches so first take half of your sauce and half your chopped onions in a pan and put the heat on high until it begins to boil. Reduce to medium-high and let it simmer for about 2 minutes 

3. As the onion begins to grow translucent, add one of the sliced tonkatsu cutlet on top of the onions and sauce. Take half of your beaten egg and pour it over and around the tonkatsu. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer between 30 seconds to one minute, depending how cooked you like your egg. The heat from the hot rice will also cook the eggs in the bowl a bit so keep that in mind.

4. Carefully slide everything in the pot on top of the hot rice. Because of the egg mixture, everything for the most part should easily slide out together. Repeat steps two to four for your second katsudon with the remainder of your sauce, onions and cutlet.

You can add toasted seaweed crumbles, toasted sesame seeds, and/or chopped green onions on top before serving for garnish if you wish. 

You can cook the eggs a bit more or...

... leave it fairly runny depending on preference

Serve with Japanese pickles or kimchi. A bowl of simple miso soup is also an excellent accompaniment.