One of the things I like storing in the freezer is tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet). It has been a family favorite since I first learned to cook it back in high school. The concept of making lots for freezing however, never occured to me until a year or two ago.

Contents:
• Plum tomato wedges
• Tonkatsu sauce. Bulldog brand. I stretched a piece of cling film over the cup so it won’t spill.
• Cucumber slices with
• a squeeze bottle of ensaladang pipino (cucumber salad) dressing. It’s basically vinegar with salt and pepper. If you’d prefer a less sour mix, cutting it with water works.
• Tonkatsu on a bed of rice
• Flower-shaped FANCY FISHBALLS!

Tonkatsu is pretty easy to make. And storing it is even easier. After breading the cutlet, lay them flat on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, then freeze. After they’ve frozen, you can take them off the cookie sheet for easier storage. The nice thing about frozen pork cutlet is you don’t need to defrost it. You can fry it frozen—just make sure you have the fire on medium to low. For clearer instructions, check out my Tonkatsu recipe.

Ensaladang Pipino is a classic way of serving cucumbers. Even before I even learned of the existence of vinaigrette, my grandma would whip up batches of Ensaladang Pipino as a side dish for fried stuff. She’d slice the cucumbers, throw in some chopped red onions, then slather it all in the vinegar-sugar-pepper-water dressing. She’d serve it chilled so it was doubly delicious. The perfect refreshing salad for blisteringly hot summer days.

And yes, the fancy fishballs make a comeback.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 11:40 pm and is filed under bento. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.