Spring, Soy and Japanese, Tofu Katsu recipe /豆腐カツ

日本語のレシピは　ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の　Hachidory から　ご覧下さい。

 Fukujuso

The spring has come !

The coldest winter ever for me has finished at last !

The sigh is released from my mouth when I feel the spring breeze on my cheek under the warm sunshine. 

The wildflowers of spring melt my heart.

How beautiful this moment is !

 

I feel like introducing the recipe that matches this feeling.

But I will bring it forward to next month as I must fulfil my promise to write up “Tofu Katsu” recipe this month.

“Katsu” is a Japanese word originated from French word, cotelette which is a meat dish.  It became a popular home making dish after the world warⅡ.  I know that many people recognize “Tonkatsu”, the deep fried pork coated with the bread crumb as a Japanese food.  But it is definitely not a traditional Japanese food.

Japanese people were prohibited eating meat for the period of 1200 years by the rulers.  

It is not exactly correct to say all forms of meat were prohibited and none of the people were eating meat, but the perception of bad image of eating meat was cultivated during this period, so Japanese people developed the food using the plants. 

The soy was one of them.  It must have been the most important source of diet next to the rice.

During those times, there wasn’t such a study like nutrition.

However people knew from their experiences that the rice and the soy give them enough energy to grow and work.

That is why we have the foundation of soy products and variety kinds of soy originated food even now, though quite a portion has been taken over by meat and dairy products.

 

The recipe that I am sharing with you today is “Tofu Katsu”.

It is a tofu dish but is not a traditional Japanese food.

It is an adoption form “Tonkatsu”/Pork cutlet. 

So it looks like “Tonkatsu”, but tastes much nicer than that !

The outside is crispy and the inside is soft and tender !!

 So unlike real Tonkatsu, it is vegan, on top of that, gluten-free, on top of that, non-deep-fry.

As you already imagine, it is much healthier too.

Enjoy it with ready made sauce of your choice, such as vegan Tonkatsu sauce, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, enchilada, or simple soy sauce, of course, it would be even nicer with your handmade sauce.

 

Tofu Katsu / Tofu cutlet

Ingredients (for30~36 pieces)

1pkt firm tofu

Salt & pepper or herb salt

1Tbsp rice flour (can be replaced with wheat flour for gluten OK)

2Tbsp rice flour mixed with 1 Tbsp water

30g~ 50g rice panko (sub : squashed and powdered corn flakes)

This panko made from the brown rice is from Sakurai Shokuhin Corporation.

2tsp ~4tsp vegetable oil of your choice

Fresh vegetables of your choice as a side dish

Sauce of your choice

Utensils required

1.   Heavy weight to press tofu, it needs to be heavy enough to deform the rectangular shape of tofu to a state similar to a piece of tonkatsu (suggestion: stones, container with beans.)

2.   Sieve to place tofu on top of it for pressing.

3.   Bowl to receive the above sieve

4.   3 trays or flat plates to coat the tofu

5.   Oven or bread toaster which can control the temperature

6.   baking sheet

Preparation 

Wrap tofu with the kitchen towel or tea towel, place a weight on top of it and let it press until the height of tofu decreased to approximately 2cm.

The duration for pressing may vary as water contents of tofu are different depending on the brands of tofu.  You can start this on previous night.

 

Procedure

1.   Pre-heat the oven to 200℃.

2.   Salt and pepper (herb salt) on pressed tofu and leave aside for 10min.

3.   Meantime, fry rice panko with the vegetable oil till golden brown over low heat.

It looks like this at the beginning.

Fry until to this point.

4.   Place　Ⓐrice flour、Ⓑrice flour and water mixture, Ⓒfried rice panko separately on the three trays.

5.   Coat tofu with above Ⓐ、Ⓑ、Ⓒ thoroughly in this order.

6.   Lay coated tofu on the baking tray lined with the baking sheet.

7.   Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 min.

           *If you use the toaster oven, check time to time as coated tofu might get            burnt before the time comes.

8.   Take it out to the cutting board and slice with the knife gently and transfer to the serving plate.

 

This tofu katsu below was made with the tofu that was frozen, thawed and drained before cooking.  The texture turns meatier in this way.

You can see the difference of the texture.

This tofu is the normal pressed one.

This is frozen and thawed one. You can see it is fibrous.

Tofu Katsu with rice, soup and pickles.  I prefer the smoother texture tofu.

 

 

Japanese curry rice with Tofu Katsu.   Unless you slice gently, the coating of Katsu can be torn like this.  This is the bad examples.

 

Information

I conduct online soy cooking class using the platform of Airbnb under the title of “Magical Soy and Japanese Vegan”.  Visit the page if you are interested in learning soy dishes (mainly tofu dishes) from me.

Happy cooking!

 

タグ：Soy TOFU tonkatsu Tofukatsu Japanesefoodculture macrobiotics Vegan plantbased japanesefood 豆腐カツ とんかつ 豆腐 日本人と肉食 春 ビーガン マクロビオティック Spring Gluten-Free 卵乳製品小麦不使用