Katsudon

One of my favorite meals in the world is katsudon.  I am normally not a huge pork fan, but for some reason I will eat this any time any where.  Unfortunately, the base for this is a breaded pork cutlet.  No problem with my super awesome cheating skills!

Katsudon

Tonkatsu
~Pork cutlets
~Crushed rice cereal
~2 eggs, beaten
~1/4 cup cornstarch
~Salt and pepper

Onion, sliced thin

4 eggs, beaten

Donburi sauce
~1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock (about 1T hon dashi plus 1 1/4 cup water)
~5 Tbsp soy sauce
~2 Tbsp mirin
~1 Tbsp sugar


First you start by making the tonkatsu.  Heat 3-4 inches of oil in a pan (or break out your deep fryer) over medium to medium-high heat.  Take your pork cutlets and pound them with a tenderizer (or the back of your knife blade) until about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Working one piece at a time, pepper and salt the meat, then coat with cornstarch, then egg, then your crushed rice cereal.  Place each finished piece out of the way somewhere until you are all done.  Next you fry the pieces, two to three minutes on each side until golden brown.  Set these aside.

Your next step is to make the donburi sauce.  This one is easy - mix all the ingredients in a pot and boil for about 5 minutes.

When your sauce is ready, take a small frying pan (around 7 inches is good, anything you like to make little things in) and add about 1/2 cup of your sauce.  Throw in a handful of the sliced onions, and while that is coming up to a boil go ahead a cut the tonkatsu into half inch wide strips.  Put one whole cutlet on top of the sauce and onions, and top with two beaten eggs.  Cover with a lid and cook on medium for about 2-4 minutes.  How long you cook it depends on how done you want your egg.  Me, I like mine runny!  Remove from heat and serve immediately over rice.


I can not emphasize how much I LOVE this dish.  I have made it a few times over the past few months, and I always want more and more.

Failed donuts

Well, I don't know why but a few weeks ago I took it upon myself to try and make some chocolate cake donuts.  They sounded so good, and so much like nothing that I can have any more.  So I broke out my GFDF cookbook, and started away at them.  The batter looked good, and even tasted okay.  They smelled amazing while cooking, I think it was the instant espresso behind the chocolate


THEN.


I took them out of the oven.  No problem, they cooked up, even looked done.  I let them cool and when I went to take them out of the pan?  They would not budge.  Stuck tight even with the greasing.  I tasted them and they were pretty good, so I made them into *dun dun dun duuun* a big chocolate mess!!

Covered with an easy chocolate frosting and some sprinkles, it looked and tasted reminiscently of crumbly cake.  Something was off, but I didn't complain too much.  Since I had still more batter, I decided to cook my next batch up as a pan of cakey brownies.

This pan turned out pretty well.  It looked like it was supposed to, even if it still had the same off taste.  I think I only had a few bites before I threw this one away.  Honestly, I am still not getting the hang of this gluten free baking thing.  I am used to being able to make things from scratch and have them turn out well, and not being able to do that anymore is a little frustrating.  I could stick to mixes, but then I will never learn.  I just need to move on and keep trying until I find something that I like.



What about the rest of the cake mess, you ask?  Well, as I was sitting there with a plate full of crumbled donuts, Gabe suggested that I make them into balls.  So, I did just that!

I didn't actually try any of these, but they must have been good because they all disappeared!  I liked the way they looked, but by this point I was sugared out.  At least I know that when something flops I can kind of save it :)