I am proud to say that the number of international foods I’ve introduced to my taste-buds have increased exponentially since around my sophomore year of college. Recently, I gained the superficial confidence that I could actually make some of this stuff on my own, and more superficially – make it taste good! When I was in Japan last year, the first meal at a restaurant I had was – i didn’t know the name at the time – katsudon. In my opinion, it’s the perfect runners meal. Lots of carbs, protein, relatively easy to make, and it tastes gooood. I’ll post a picture of my own creation soon enough, but in the meantime, here’s what someone else’s dish looks like. 

Mmm, can’t you smell the greatness from the picture alone? The picture displayed to the right is chicken katsudon. Typical katsudon is with pork, and not chicken. Here’s a recipe, courtesy of http://bentocorner.com for those who want a new exciting fragrance for their kitchen. The only difficulty with the recipe (at least for me) was finding a couple of the ingredients, particularly dashi (a fish stock common to many Japanese foods) and panko (japanese breadcrumbs.) I found the dashi at an asian market in Chicago, and the panko breadcrumbs at a dominicks in the suburbs (but not at the one in Lincoln Park.)  Tell me what you think!

P.S. If anyone has a great method of preparing rice perfectly, please inform me immediately. My rice is always too wet! If you guys donate me some money for a rice cooker, I’ll invite everyone one of you over for a free katsudon meal, with rice that will blow. your. mind. 

Chicken Katsudon:

How to make chicken katsu:

1 pound of chicken

2 eggs

½ cup of flour

2-3 cups of panko (can be store bought or made with plain sandwich bread and grounded in a mixer or food processor)

Oil for deep frying

1. Slice chicken into strips. Dredge chicken in flour, then dip into beaten egg, then dredge with panko. Fry in oil until cooked.

To make chicken katsudon:

2 cups of water

½ cup of mirin

½ cup of mentsuyu (or you can substitute with ½ cup soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of dashi no moto)

2 teaspoons of sugar (or more depending on taste)

1 ½ thinly sliced onion

3 stalks of green onion

4-5 eggs, beaten

chicken katsu

Prepare  the stock by mixing all ingredients except for the eggs, onion, and katsu. Boil the stock in a frying pan then add the sliced onion and the chicken katsu. After 10 minutes, add 3 stalks of chopped green onions. Beat  the eggs and pour ½ of the egg over the chicken and onion mixture and wait for the egg to curdle. Once the egg is curdled, pour the rest of the egg onto the pan. Cook until eggs are done. Top with shredded nori and serve over rice.

Thank you http://www.bentocorner.com/roller/page/bentoblog?entry=chicken_katsu_don for this delicious recipe!

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