karē udon

as mentioned in my previous post, my pantry seems to be empty. i need to do some shopping, i know. on friday i will. anyway, along with the lack of necessaties like cookes for tea (shortbread cookies to be exact), ichiban (my guilty pleasure) and veggies... i am all out of rice! ok i have basmati rice, but you can't eat japanese food with basmati rice. i'm not that desperate yet.

it was a cold, stormy thursday afternoon and i wanted comfort food. so i decided to make japanese curry (kare)... and use the last box of udon noodles. i actually had a pack of katsu-retsu (pork cutlets), so this quick dinner was a done deal. i got out my coating tray set and started setting it all up. i had to defrost the katsu-retsu in the microwave, which i hate to do, but i forgot to take it out of the freezer that morning. at 5:55am when i'm leaving for work my brain is hardly thinking about dinner... it's solely focused on soy chai. anyway! for those of you who love kare, using udon noodles is a nice substitute for rice - thanks closet cooking for the idea! there are 3 parts to this meal, which can all be cooked simultaneously. just make sure not to forget about the boiling noodles and overcook them.

part 1: udon boil udon. done. :)

part 2: kare
ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 diced onion
1/2 red pepper, julienned
2 blocks of kare
about 1 and 1/2 cups of water

steps: heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onions and red peppers. once the onions have browned, add the water and kare blocks and stir. the sauce will thicken quickly, so stir from time to time to avoid lumps. taste the kare. if it's too strong for you, add more water and let it reduce a bit more. once it's done, simmer on very low heat until part 3 is complete.

part 3: tonkatsu

ingredients:
1 pack of katsu-retsu (approximately 4-5 cutlets)
1 egg, whisked
1/2 cup of flour
1 cup of panko
salt & pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil

steps: thoroughly rinse and dry the katsu. season with salt & pepper. coat the cutlet in flour, then dip in the egg wash, and finally in the panko bread crumbs. make sure the cutlet is coated fully. slowly fry the coated cutlets in olive oil, on medium-high. if the coating starts to burn, turn it down to medium. it all depends on your stove.

once everything is done, add a heap of noodles to a bowl, slice the tonkatsu and lay it over the udon. then pour over some kare (i like lots!), and your deliciously comforting dinner is ready!

douzo meshiagare! どうぞめしあがれ !

cPe 2008