Chicken Katsu (4 servings)

6 to 8 skinless chicken thigh fillets

salt

pepper

1/2 cup flour

1 egg, beaten

3/4 to 1 cup of panko

vegetable oil for deep-frying

finely sliced onion leaves, for garnish

For the sauce:

1/8 cup mirin

1/8 cup sake

1/8 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

about 1 tbsp. of light soy sauce or to taste

1 tsp. of finely grated ginger

Make the sauce. In a pan, pour in the mirin, sake and rice vinegar. Add a cup of dark brown sugar. Boil until syrupy but not too thick. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools so don’t wait until it is very thick before turning off the heat. Stir in the soy sauce and grated ginger.

Take a large piece of cling wrap. Place a chicken on one side and fold over the other half. If you have a very large of cling wrap, you can place more chicken pieces.

Pound the chicken until the meat is no more than half an inch in thickness. It is important for the thickness to be uniform for even cooking. And the chicken meat shouldn’t be too thick to avoid a raw center and a burnt coating.

Lay the chicken pieces flat and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place the flour, beaten egg and panko in three shallow bowls.  Dredge each chicken thigh in flour; shake off the excess.  Dip each floured chicken thigh in the beaten egg, making sure that every inch of the surface is coated with egg.  Roll each chicken thigh in panko. Make sure that the panko coating is even.

Heat enough cooking oil so that it is at least an inch deep. When it starts to smoke, start frying the chicken in batches.  Check the underside after about three minutes. When the underside is golden brown, flip the chicken thighs over to brown the opposite side.

Cut the chicken katsu into bite-size pieces. Arrange over rice. Spoon over some of the sauce. Serve with vegetables on the side. Sprinkle with finely sliced onion leaves for garnish.