Deep-frying oysters is also delicious.  In Japanese restaurants you'll often see it sold as "Oyster Fry" or "Kaki Fry" (Kaki has a double meaning of both oyster and persimmon in Japanese).  The recipe is super easy and there is no measuring that needs to be done.

All you need to serve two portions:

- 12 to 16 oysters (depending on whether you are having it as a main or an appetizer)

- plain flour

- 1 to 2 eggs

- Japanese panko breadcrumbs (don't substitute this)

- salt & pepper

- oil

- cabbage

- tonkatsu sauce  (Tasty Island Blog has a great post on tonkatsu sauce) http://tastyisland.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/tonkatsu-is-all-about-the-sauce/

Directions:

Shred cabbage very thinly by hand or with a mandolin.  Divide between serving plates.  It is meant to be eaten with the fried oysters.

Put raw oysters in a bowl and rinse with cold water (you can use salted water but I don't think it's necessary).  If you happen to have some grated daikon handy, you can also use the daikon to "rinse" the oysters and then rinse with cold water.  Pat dry with paper towels or tea towel.  Put about 1/2 cup of flour on one plate, a cup of panko on another plate and beat an egg (w/a couple of tablespoons of water) into a separate bowl. Meanwhile, start to heat the oil.

Season the oysters with a little salt and pepper.  Then get yourself situated so that the closest plate to the hot oil is the panko, then the egg, then the flour.  Roll as many oysters as you can into the flour to coat and before dunking them into the egg, dust off excess flour.  Once coated with egg, dip them immediately into the panko and dunk straight into the hot oil.  If you start running out of flour, egg or panko before finishing all the oysters, just simply add more to finish off.

If using a deep-fat fryer, fry until golden brown.  If using a shallow fry-pan, let oysters become golden brown on one side and turn over with cooking chopsticks or tongs until both sides are golden brown.  Let drain on paper towels. Serve with Japanese tonkatsu sauce and hot Japanese white rice.  I like to have miso soup with this as well to round it off to a complete meal.  :)

Here is a link to another version of this dish from about.com:

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/seaweed/r/friedoyster.htm

If you have been keeping up with the progress of my beautiful handcrafted camphor laurel chopping, cheese boards and Mezzaluna Boards. My official site is finally finished and live so to see my full collection please click here.

Ingredients

2 Chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Clove garlic, crushed
1/2 Teaspoon provincial herbs

Stuffing

2-3 Teaspoons sun-dried tomato pesto (depending on size of breasts)
3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
3/4-1 Cup panko flakes (again depending on size of breasts, enough to coat completely.)

Salad

2 Slices white bread crusts removed
Butter
Garlic powder, dried basil and parsley, enough to sprinkle each side of the bread with.
3 Bacon slices, cooked crumbled
200g Cos lettuce or a bag of caesar salad greens
1/2 Cup flaked parmesan cheese, or as much as you like
Caesar dressing (store bought or make your own.)

Method

1. Trim chicken of any excess fat open out and pound with a meat mallet until roughly equal thickness (about 1/4 inch thick.)

2. Combine oil, juice, sauce, garlic and herbs in a bowl or storage container, add chicken toss to coat, marinade for several hours.

3. Remove chicken from marinade open out, spread pesto down one side of breast, Press cheese into pesto, dividing equally between the 2 breasts (so about 11/2 TBLS per breast.)

4. Fold the other half over filling to enclose, pour panko flakes onto a plate, press chicken into flakes and coat well all over with flakes. If while placing the filling onto the breast you have lost too much of the oil from the marinade, just dip chicken back into it before coating with panko, as it is the marinade that allows the panko flakes to stick well to the chicken.

5. Place chicken breasts in an oven proof dish and bake in preheated oven 190 degrees Celsius for about 30-40 Min's until chicken is browned and cooked through (again cooking time is just depending on the size of the breasts smaller ones will be done in about 30 Min's) Slice thickly and serve immediately.

6. While chicken is cooking, spread butter onto one side of bread sprinkle with garlic, basil and parsley, place slices into a pan, and cook until browned and crisp, repeat with the other side. Slice into squares.

(I do this over a medium heat as it allows for the bread to brown and crisp without burning, or cooking too quickly so the bread is still soft in the middle, this way you get nice crunchy crouton effect.)

7. Cook bacon, drain and crumble.

To Serve: Place salad greens on a plate, sprinkle bacon and Parmesan cheese over, place croutons around plate, drizzle with salad dressing and top with sliced chicken.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.

rating: 6

http://tinyurl.com/6c2b9w

Like many gaijin, I am a big fan of katsu. When the Portuguese missionaries showed up in Japan in the 1500s, they brought along both the Roman Catholic Church, and their mastery of fried foods. Catholicism ended up not being a permanent fixture, but nobody could debate the tastiness of the frying. Tempura and pork and chicken katsu have remained a vital part of japanese cuisine, and a refuge for westerners on whom the flavors of raw fish and edamame are lost.

This particular katsu recipe has the double virtues of being fast and easy. I've seen other recipes that advise marinating your chicken or pork with a little soy sauce, sake, and sliced scallions before frying. These are tasty, but less convenient for a work night.

Chicken Katsu (from Hiroko Shimbo's The Japanese Kitchen)

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 eggs beaten  with 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups panko crumbs
• oil for frying
• 1/2 head cabbage shredded

Put the flour, egg/water mixture, and panko crumbs into separate bowls. Dip the chicken breasts into the flour, then the egg wash, then back into the flour, then back into the egg again, and roll in panko crumbs. Heat oil for frying (about 2 inches) and fry chicken breasts about five minutes on each side, until golden brown. Serve with shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sosu.

These turned out really well, but I learned they're best fresh. (I made too many and ended up microwaving them later this week.) I also had a lot of trouble getting the cakes to be the same size.

Some random thoughts for next time:

• try with garlic/garlic powder
• separate into sections before breading
• cakes should be about palm-sized
• maybe use salad bacon bits (is that stuff real or not?) - the microwave stuff wasn't crispy enough to crumble too well
• potentially needs more cheese, maybe a sharper cheddar
• use less panko
• try reheating in the toaster instead of the microwave
• try halving the recipe and making it in the toaster so I don't have to turn the oven on

Recipe for Buffalo Salmon

Starting in May '08, we're adding the item below to our $8.00+ weekday special lunch sets at Chinatown Point outlet.  We're already hungry just by looking at it!

Tonkatsu is wildly popular in Japan, and rightly so. This set meal consists of  breaded (crumbed) pork , steamed rice, finely shredded raw cabbage and a delish sauce.

I  also include a fried egg sprinkled with seaweed seasoning.

Here is how I make Tonkatsu.

You will need to buy some nice thin pork chops. If they are too thick the crumbs would burn before the meat cooked. Pork leg steak is also perfect for Tonkatsu . Chicken can be substituted for the pork. I bought my pork chops from the Asian grocer. They have a different way of cutting  meat to Australian butchers, and the thinner, fat-free chop suits this dish.

Using the usual flour, egg, crumb method, crumb the chops. The most important difference is the use of the Japanese breadcrumb called Panko. This has a coarser crumb, and is light and flaky - perfect for a delicious, crispy coating. Panko is available in some supermarkets, and at Asian markets and grocers.

I put the chops in a plastic bag and shake them all about with some plain flour

The excess flour is shaken off and the chops are dipped in well beaten egg. The flour will repel the egg so make sure the whole chop has been dipped and is wet.

Let the excess egg drip off and drop the chop into your dish of Panko. Press the crumbs on well. If there are some bits where the egg isn't there and the flour is showing through, just put it back into the egg. Shake off any excess crumbs - most important :) Excess crumbs otherwise fall off when you're frying the meat and end up as black, burnt bits that will stick to your lovely chop.

If you look at the photo below you can see some white flour bits - this is where I didn't pay enough attention when I was coating the chop in egg. This is what you want to avoid :)

Some people like to double-coat their chop with crumbs. This means that after the first lot of crumbing, the chop goes back into the egg, and then back into the crumbs for a second time (no need to do the flour again second-time round).

Put your lovely crumbed chops into the 'fridge for a while. This chilling will help the crumbs stick to the meat and the end result will be better. I put mine on a cutting board lined with baking paper.

Slice your cabbage very fine. I used Chinese cabbage this time because that is what I had. Any cabbage can be used.

Steam your sushi rice. The shorter, fatter grains of sushi rice seem to suit this dish better than a long grain rice like jasmine or Basmati. I know my rice looks a little "wet". I think it is my diabolical photo taking again...

Make your Tonkatsu sauce. Usually this sauce is made up of barbecue/steak sauce mixed with some Worchestire sauce, some soy sauce and a 1/2 teaspoon or so of hot English mustard. Well, I didn't have the Worcheshire or the mustard so I used just the barbecue sauce, some soy sauce and some wasabi mustard instead ( I prefer the version I usually do, but this was fine) Proportions? I would say about 2/3 rd's of a cup of barbecue sauce, 2 tablespoons each of Worcheshire and soy, and about 2/3 r's of a teaspoon hot mustard. All subject to taste of course! Test it as you make it :) I will say that it is easier to use a little food processor ot whisky-stick thing to blend it. The mustard sometimes doesn't want to amalgamate into the sauce.

Cook the chops in a couple of cm's of oil; canola, peanut, something like that. They can be deep fried, and that is probably the more traditional method.

Drain them well and cut into serving pieces.

Drain the cabbage very well.

Each person gets a pile of cabbage, a mound of steamed rice, some pork pieces and access to the sauce.

Seems complicated? It's not really. Trust me. I hate a lot of fussing around dinner time. Mess and bother make me tired... ;) I do this step-by-step, cleaning up as I go and it's really worth it - it's a lovely meal, and a family favourite that makes everyone so happy when I make it :)