Katsu Sando’s have been the rage for awhile now where Cindy’s from (California), but are just now making their way to us here in Denver. What exactly is a katsu sando?
Katsu is short for “katsuretsu,” which means “cutlet” in Japanese, but is not just any old cutlet, it’s a breaded and fried cutlet. Sando is the “kawaii” (cute) Japanese name for “sandwich”.
For our katsu sando sliders, based on a recipe from our nephew and sometimes photographer and test cook, Robbie (who sometimes goes by his middle name, Masato, which was Cindy’s grandfather’s name on her father’s side), you can use pork (traditional), chicken or tofu.
A katsu sando is simple: a fried cutlet on “shokupan” (Japanese milk bread) slathered with tonkatsu sauce with finely shredded cabbage. Japanese milk bread is not easily found, so we use King’s Hawaiian Rolls or challah rolls from Rosenberg’s in Denver, since both have a little sweetness to them like Japanese milk bread.
To take our katsu sando up a notch, we added a little of our Masi Masa Japanese Gold Curry to the flour. But if you don’t have any, don’t worry, salt and pepper is traditional and will taste more than fine!
Serves 3-4
Katsu
Sando
*“Tsukemono” means “pickled things” in Japanese. You can sometimes find them at Whole Foods with the other fermented/pickled things. H Mart or your local Asian market may also have them. We get them in Denver at our local Japanese grocery, Pacific Mercantile. For this recipe, we used cucumber tsukemono, which is really easy to make. Here’s a quick recipe from All Recipes.
Prepare pork or chicken:
Prepare dredging station—on three separate dinner-sized plates:
Plate 1: Stir together ¼ C flour on plate & 1 TBSP Masi Masa Japanese Gold Curry Spice Blend
Plate 2: Beat egg in a bowl and pour onto plate (or use egg substitute)
Plate 3: ½ C panko
Dredge cutlets (using your hands is the easiest):
Fry katsu:
Assemble sandos:
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For this katsu sando slider recipe, we’re using tofu (you’re welcome, vegetarians!), but we also have a recipe using pork of chicken.