You Should Katsu Everything
Katsu eggplant | Jaya Saxena Any bland vegetable is transformed with this one cool trick: frying the crap out of it I’ve been led to understand that Americans have a limited palate for textures. On the whole, we do not do the gooey sproing of collagen-rich tendons, or the sliminess of natto or the sponginess of tripe. Instead, we like things fatty and creamy and most of all, crunchy. Well, yeah, so sue me. This is perhaps the most American thing about me. I can only eat okra if it’s been crisped in besan or cornmeal beforehand, and I’m sorry but I just cannot gnaw on a chicken foot. Even bananas are mostly too gummy for my gag reflex. But on the other hand, I love vegetables, many of which can easily have mushy, watery, mealy textures. Which is why I’m currently so in love with Hetty Lui McKinnon’s vegan recipe for eggplant katsu from her genius cookbook Tenderheart. Katsu, a Japanese transliteration of the English “cutlet,” is simply the method of frying meat, usually chicken or pork, in a batter of flour and egg and a coating of panko. Here, McKinnon applies it to soft rounds of eggplant, the typically spongy texture of which is rendered into a velvet-like filling between a sturdy, crunchy coating. The batter is incredibly simple, and eschews the egg for just flour, cornstarch, and baking powder with water and some salt and pepper. The eggplant slices get dipped in that, rolled in panko, and pan fried in oil. Maybe it doesn’t sound revelatory that my solution is to fry vegetables in a crispy coating and slather it in savory tonkatsu sauce, which McKinnon makes with ketchup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and other seasonings. But in the vein of treating your vegetables like meat, applying the Japanese katsu method to a variety of soft, fragile vegetables makes total sense. You can do this to all the zucchini you’ll inevitably get in your CSA, and tomatoes, and thick slices of bell pepper. And maybe it doesn’t seem that different from other traditions of pan-frying, but let’s face it, panko is just a superior coating. As with all deceptively simple recipes, technique matters here. Don’t cut your vegetables too thick or fry them in lukewarm oil. And do not microwave leftovers into a soggy mush. Instead, reheat any vegetables in a toaster oven or air fryer to maintain that perfect crisp. Other than that, you can do just about anything with your katsued veggies. Serve them traditionally with rice and tonkatsu sauce! Make a parm! Put them in a sandwich! The world is your katsu.
Any bland vegetable is transformed with this one cool trick: frying the crap out of it
I’ve been led to understand that Americans have a limited palate for textures. On the whole, we do not do the gooey sproing of collagen-rich tendons, or the sliminess of natto or the sponginess of tripe. Instead, we like things fatty and creamy and most of all, crunchy.
Well, yeah, so sue me. This is perhaps the most American thing about me. I can only eat okra if it’s been crisped in besan or cornmeal beforehand, and I’m sorry but I just cannot gnaw on a chicken foot. Even bananas are mostly too gummy for my gag reflex. But on the other hand, I love vegetables, many of which can easily have mushy, watery, mealy textures.
Which is why I’m currently so in love with Hetty Lui McKinnon’s vegan recipe for eggplant katsu from her genius cookbook Tenderheart. Katsu, a Japanese transliteration of the English “cutlet,” is simply the method of frying meat, usually chicken or pork, in a batter of flour and egg and a coating of panko. Here, McKinnon applies it to soft rounds of eggplant, the typically spongy texture of which is rendered into a velvet-like filling between a sturdy, crunchy coating. The batter is incredibly simple, and eschews the egg for just flour, cornstarch, and baking powder with water and some salt and pepper. The eggplant slices get dipped in that, rolled in panko, and pan fried in oil.
Maybe it doesn’t sound revelatory that my solution is to fry vegetables in a crispy coating and slather it in savory tonkatsu sauce, which McKinnon makes with ketchup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and other seasonings. But in the vein of treating your vegetables like meat, applying the Japanese katsu method to a variety of soft, fragile vegetables makes total sense. You can do this to all the zucchini you’ll inevitably get in your CSA, and tomatoes, and thick slices of bell pepper. And maybe it doesn’t seem that different from other traditions of pan-frying, but let’s face it, panko is just a superior coating.
As with all deceptively simple recipes, technique matters here. Don’t cut your vegetables too thick or fry them in lukewarm oil. And do not microwave leftovers into a soggy mush. Instead, reheat any vegetables in a toaster oven or air fryer to maintain that perfect crisp. Other than that, you can do just about anything with your katsued veggies. Serve them traditionally with rice and tonkatsu sauce! Make a parm! Put them in a sandwich! The world is your katsu.
