Salads, soups, rice bowls, pasta dishes and one-pot dinners are all on the menu in nutritionist and recipe writer Sarah Pound’s accessible debut cookbook Wholesome by Sarah. The Melbourne-based Instagram sensation (she has 700,000 followers and counting) is all about recipes that are wallet-friendly and approachable – and, importantly, won’t eat up your precious after-hours time in the kitchen.
This Japanese-inspired recipe is surprisingly easy – a texture bomb that’ll hit the table in 35 minutes. A little zingy (thanks wasabi and ginger) and a lot crunchy (hello, panko breadcrumbs and slaw), it’s an all-round crowd-pleaser that’ll add a little pizzazz to your midweek meals.
Sarah Pound’s Japanese-inspired crumbed pork with tonkatsu sauce and slaw
Serves 4
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
4 175g boneless pork cutlets (or loin fillets)
Salt flakes
110g (¾ cup) plain flour
2 eggs, whisked
150g (2½ cups) panko breadcrumbs
3 tbsp sesame seeds
Vegetable oil, for frying
Tonkatsu sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce
2½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce or oyster sauce
2 tsp brown sugar or caster sugar
Japanese dressing
2 tbsp Japanese kewpie mayonnaise
2 tsp wasabi paste
1 tbsp pickled ginger, finely sliced
1 tbsp pickled ginger juice
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
Slaw
½ small savoy cabbage (approximately 500g), core removed, very finely shredded
1 Lebanese cucumber, very finely sliced into rounds
4 radishes, very finely sliced into rounds
5 spring onions, very finely sliced
Method
Mix all the tonkatsu sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl or jug and mix well to completely incorporate the wasabi paste. Set aside.
Place all the slaw ingredients in a large bowl. Toss gently to combine, then cover and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
For the pork, if the pieces are thicker than 1.5cm, place them on a chopping board and cover with a sheet of baking paper. Take a rolling pin and gently pound each piece until it’s about 1.5cm thick. Generously season both sides of the pork with salt.
Prepare three shallow bowls: one for the flour, one for the whisked egg and one for the combined breadcrumbs and sesame seeds. Dip each piece of pork into the flour, then into the egg and finally into the breadcrumb and sesame seed mix, pressing the breadcrumbs on well and making sure each side is evenly covered.
Place a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium–high heat. Pour in the vegetable oil to a depth of 1cm. Add the crumbed pork and cook for 90 seconds on each side until golden brown and cooked through. If they are thicker, finish cooking in a 180°C oven for 3–4 minutes. Drain on paper towel.
Pour the dressing over the slaw and gently toss.
Serve the crumbed pork with the slaw and tonkatsu sauce alongside.
Wholesome by Sarah by Sarah Pound, published by Plum, RRP $44.99, photography by Mark Roper.
