Katsudon (Pork Cutlet & Egg Rice Bowl)

About This Recipe

Katsudon is the comfort food Japanese students eat the night before a major exam (the name puns on 'katsu' meaning 'to win'). A crisp panko-fried pork cutlet (tonkatsu) is sliced, briefly simmered in a sweet-savory dashi broth with sliced onion, then bound with beaten egg poured over the top — the egg sets in a half-cooked custard around the pork, creating a textural marvel of crisp-meets-soft-meets-runny. Served immediately over hot short-grain rice with a sprinkle of mitsuba (or scallion), it's the perfect contradiction of textures: the cutlet's crunch dampened by sauce but not lost, the onion sweet from the simmer, the egg layered with set whites and golden yolks. A 100-year-old Japanese student tradition, evolved from western katsu via Tokyo's Sōtō Honke Bairin restaurant.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 thickboneless pork loin chops (150 g each, 1.5 cm thick)
• fine salt and pepper
• 30 gplain flour
• 1 largeegg, beaten (for breading)
• 100 gpanko breadcrumbs
• neutral oil for frying (about 500 ml)
• 200 mldashi (or 200 ml water + 1 tsp instant dashi)
• 60 mlsoy sauce
• 60 mlmirin
• 30 gsugar
• 1 smallyellow onion, sliced thin
• 4 largeeggs (for binding)
• 3 cupshot cooked Japanese short-grain rice
• 1 small bunchmitsuba or scallions, sliced (garnish)
• 1 tspshichimi togarashi (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Tenderize the pork

   Pound chops gently with a mallet to even out the thickness (no thinner than 1 cm). Score the fat edge in 3 places to prevent curling. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

2. 2

   Bread the cutlets

   Dust each chop in flour, dip in beaten egg, press into panko firmly. Lay on a tray.

3. 3

   Fry the tonkatsu

   Heat oil to 175°C in a wide pot. Fry cutlets 3-4 minutes per side until deep golden and cooked through (internal 65°C). Lift onto a wire rack.

4. 4

   Rest, then slice

   Rest the cutlets 3 minutes, then slice into 2 cm-thick strips against the grain. This is the tonkatsu.

5. 5

   Make the simmer

   In a 20 cm wide skillet, combine dashi, soy, mirin, and sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer. Add sliced onion. Cook 5 minutes until the onion is softening.

6. 6

   Add sliced cutlet

   Lay one sliced cutlet on top of the onions, fanning the slices to fit. Simmer 30 seconds — just enough for the cutlet to absorb the sauce on the underside.

7. 7

   Bind with egg (the key technique)

   Beat 2 of the eggs lightly (just to combine yolk and white, not fluffy). Drizzle the eggs in a spiral pattern over the cutlet and onions. Cover with a lid; cook 60-90 seconds. The eggs should be set on the bottom and around the edges, but the top should still be slightly runny — never fully set.

8. 8

   Slide and serve

   Slide the entire katsudon contents — onions, cutlet, eggs — onto a deep bowl of hot rice. Try to keep it intact. Repeat with the second cutlet for the other diner.

9. 9

   Garnish

   Scatter mitsuba or scallions on top. Sprinkle shichimi togarashi for those who want heat. Eat immediately.

Variations

• •

  Chicken katsudon (oyakodon-style cousin): use chicken thighs in place of pork.

• •

  Curry katsudon: skip the dashi/soy simmer; smother the cutlet in Japanese curry sauce instead.

• •

  Sauce katsudon (Fukui-style): no egg binding; cutlet just dipped in a Worcestershire-soy sauce and laid on rice.

Storage

Best fresh. Refrigerated leftovers reheat poorly — the cutlet softens. Eat within 30 minutes of plating.

Frequently Asked Questions