I’ve been led to grasp that People have a restricted palate for textures. On the entire, we don’t do the gooey sproing of collagen-rich tendons, or the sliminess of natto or the sponginess of tripe. As an alternative, we like issues fatty and creamy and most of all, crunchy.
Effectively, yeah, so sue me. That is maybe probably the most American factor about me. I can solely eat okra if it’s been crisped in besan or cornmeal beforehand, and I’m sorry however I simply can’t gnaw on a hen foot. Even bananas are principally too gummy for my gag reflex. However then again, I really like greens, a lot of which might simply have mushy, watery, mealy textures.
Which is why I’m presently 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 solely the strategy of frying meat, normally hen or pork, in a batter of flour and egg and a coating of panko. Right here, McKinnon applies it to tender rounds of eggplant, the usually spongy texture of which is rendered right into a velvet-like filling between a sturdy, crunchy coating. The batter is extremely easy, and eschews the egg for simply flour, cornstarch, and baking powder with water and a few salt and pepper. The eggplant slices get dipped in that, rolled in panko, and pan fried in oil.
Perhaps it doesn’t sound revelatory that my resolution is to fry greens in a crispy coating and slather it in savory tonkatsu sauce, which McKinnon makes with ketchup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and different seasonings. However within the vein of treating your greens like meat, making use of the Japanese katsu technique to quite a lot of tender, fragile greens makes whole sense. You are able to do this to all of the zucchini you’ll inevitably get in your CSA, and tomatoes, and thick slices of bell pepper. And possibly it doesn’t appear that totally different from different traditions of pan-frying, however let’s face it, panko is only a superior coating.
As with all deceptively easy recipes, method issues right here. Don’t lower your greens too thick or fry them in lukewarm oil. And don’t microwave leftovers right into a soggy mush. As an alternative, reheat any greens in a toaster oven or air fryer to take care of that good crisp. Apart from that, you are able to do absolutely anything together with your katsued veggies. Serve them historically with rice and tonkatsu sauce! Make a parm! Put them in a sandwich! The world is your katsu.
