Tonkatsu, seared vegetables, apricot fig Newtons

Tonkatsu must be Japan's favorite Western food. It is a pork (ton) cutlet (katsu) breaded with panko and deep fried. Served with cabbage to cut the oil. Panko is critical. Regular breadcrumbs do not result in the same thing. These are homemade panko and they did not coat as well as regular panko does and I deep fried mine too long. 

The sauce is 1 part Worcestershire 2 parts catsup. I prefer mine with water and soy sauce, and a few of the regular suspects but the incidental additions are a lot of trouble for just a few drops each for only two pork loins. Mine are served on daikon radish that I had remaining shredded for tuna and it goes very well with this pork. Vegetables seared in butter on one side only, then doused with white wine and tossed and there's the sauce right there. 

It makes a mess. A bowl first for flour then for panko, another bowl for beaten egg, heating up vegetable oil again for deep frying, a pot for the oil, a pan for the vegetables and I don't like that.

I had dough left over from fig and date Newtons, enough for another whole batch if I were up to rolling the dough out precisely there would be enough. But I wasn't. So I made half a batch instead and tossed the extra dough and I wish I hadn't done that because these things are the best cookies I ever tasted. They have the original fig and date mixture for body, and Apricot smear to sweeten, and boy, does it ever sweeten it. Now the cookies have strong flavors of orange, date, fig and apricot. They are amazing and there are only 8 of them. 

But I can always make more dough in a snap. It's not like that is a one-time thing.

I wish my dad was alive. He liked fig Newtons. I had completely forgotten about them and there he was munching on them with his coffee. I tried one and they're all the eh but these are whole different level. I would make a batch of these and take them over there and blow his mind. He would not believe the origin of the manufactured ersatz he enjoys is so magnificent, that is, he would not believe this is the parent to his commercialized bastard child-biscuit. And I love blowing people's minds.