Japan and Simple Comforts

     I have been thinking about Japan a lot over the past few days. It is hard not to, and I just didn't know how to share till now. I have been donating a little, as much as I can, so I thought I would share the resources I have been using to do so. CNN has a long list of ways you can help out on this website. Most of them only require sending a text to automatically donate money to organizations like the Red Cross, so it wouldn't take much of your time. Please check it out.

     Isn't it strange how segregated the world is? How such awful things can happen somewhere and yet here I am in school, thinking about the fact that I have one silly exam and worrying about it. At least I am here, and everything is well. So, I guess today is to express gratitude for everything I have, and to hope that everything will get better throughout the world. 

     Sobering thoughts on a sunny sunny day. So, to make myself feel better I made something plain and simple and comforting. I made a cake, as you can see. Yes, I finally have a pan that is not a loaf pan! My mom got me a round pan at home, so we will be moving a little out of loaf pan territory. And if I could share this cake and all my other little comforts with everyone around the world I would, but since I can't, I guess I must just settle for sharing it with my friends. (PN is eating it over there ^ right now.)

She is eating one of these, which I brought as study food.

     This cake is called "Hot Milk Cake." It is the softest, fluffiest, simplest not-too-sweet-so-you-can-eat-a-lot cake you will ever eat. And when I say soft and fluffy, I mean ethereally so (without being angel food cake, which I don't even like that much). Furthermore, it actually tastes a little like warm milk, at least to me, and that is highly comforting.

     As a side note, I Macgyver-ed my way out of having to hold the hand mixer. I always knew there was a way to turn my hand mixer into a mixing stand. I guess I found it: the side of my shelf and a few books. Where there is a will, and laziness, there is always a way.

     But, in the end, I am back to this. The plain and simple things I am so glad I have today, and wish everyone could have. And look, my cake knew how I felt - can you see the heart? I didn't do it, that is how it came when I flipped it from a first plate onto this one. I guess I do believe in signs, and I hope my love and good wishes are going out throughout the world with it. 

Hot Milk Cake 

Adapted from The Little Teochew

1 1/3 cup All-Purpose Flour 

1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Milk 

4 tbsp Butter 

3 Eggs 

3/4 cup Sugar 

1 tsp Vanilla Extract 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9'' or 8'' round pan (8'' will take a longer baking time). In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set it aside, and put the butter and milk into a small saucepan. Heat them at medium heat until the butter is just melted. Take the saucepan off the heat, and set it aside as well. In a large bowl, beat the eggs together thoroughly. Then, using an electric beater or whisking by hand, whisk in the vanilla extract and sugar. Do this for at least 4 minutes, so that the mixture becomes pale and is about triple its original volume. In three parts, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture, making sure there are no lumps. Then, return the saucepan with the milk-butter mixture to medium heat, and heat it to right before boiling. Fold the heat milk into the batter, and then scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake it for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick stuck inside comes out clean (the cake will not be brown on top). Let it cool on a wire rack for five to ten minutes, run a toothpick (or plastic knife) around the edges of the cake to loosen it, and flip it out onto a platter. Now you are ready to serve, preferably with a glass of hot milk alongside. 

"Study Time"

Do you know what this is?

     So, whenever I talk to you, I always seem to be talking about my hectic life, my constant exams, and my cooking-for-the-future-freezing-extra-food-because-I-have-no-time-ness. I mean, that is true, but only to a certain extent. I also spend my time being a couch potato in my friends' (PVL and BJG and RG and CC's) apartment on campus watching tons of Food Network and not getting anything done. It is a good balance.

A new base of operations.

   Yesterday, I got off work (still kind of full of hot soup) and went home. Almost immediately, I saw a text from PVL: "Are you coming over tonight?" I wanted to, but I had to cook! But, he was all alone in that whole apartment. What a dilemma. So, I did the only thing that made sense. I took all my cooking materials to his dorm. Pork chops. Check. Panko and flour. Soy sauce, ketchup, and vegetable oil. Black pepper and salt. An egg wrapped in a paper towel. Check check check. 

     Have you guessed what I'm making? Well, maybe you have an idea, you just don't have the exact name. Here it is: Tonkatsu, or Pork Katsu, a Japanese pork dish. It's basically fried pork chops with a delicious sauce. And I have been craving it for oh so long.

     It is also, just like everything I seem to make, so easy! I know I had to buy panko for it, but panko is just the best kind of bread crumb that exists. If you ever plan to make anything of pure goodness involving coating with bread crumbs and frying, you should buy some right now! I'm sure you get it at regular grocery stores (I got it at Chinatown). 

    However, tonkatsu is generally deep-fried, and I am not a deep frying kind of person. Luckily, I found a recipe online for katsu from Amy at Nook & Pantry, who is apparently not a deep frying person either! It was great. I only changed it a very little, mainly to cut it down to size for my lovely, extra thin, boneless pork chops. Where she tenderized her meat with the spiky side of a waffle iron and then a pan, I battered mine with a plastic fork. I mean - it was mostly for stress relief, do those little chops even need tenderizing? Regardless, it was fun.

And then after frying pork chops, I fried the egg used for dredging...and ate it.

     So, that is why, after getting off from work at 9:15, after finishing writing my blog by around 11 (there was a lot of talking and Food Network-ing alongside), I made pork katsu, and we ate it for an almost-midnight snack. I split two of the chops with RG, and one with PVL (basically I am a little piggie sometimes), and that is how I ended up with no pork katsu lunch for the next day. But it's OK, because it was so good that of course none would be left over. It doesn't seem heavy, because the pieces are so small and it doesn't taste oily at all. The panko is crisp, the pork stayed moist and tender, and the katsu sauce...that sweet tanginess just brought everything together. It made me feel warm and full and good. Which is especially important on a night that ended up looking like this.

More Snow. Ah well.

Pork Katsu 

Adapted from Nook & Pantry 

Serves 3 (or the same number as the thin, boneless, pork chops you use - if you multiply, make sure to multiply the flour and panko amounts) 

For the Frying: 

3 Thin, Boneless Pork Chops (If you have fatter pork chops: you will have to debone them, and you will have to tenderize them more- See Nook & Pantry for details) 

Salt

Pepper 

1/8 cup Flour 

1 Egg, Beaten 

3/4 cup Panko 

Vegetable Oil 

First, trim the excess fat off the pork chops. Tenderize them by hitting them with the flat side of whatever utensil you have on hand, on both sides until they are flattened to about 1/4 in. Sprinkle a very little salt and pepper on both sides of the chops, rubbing them in. Then, lay out a frying line: put the flour in one deep plate, the egg in another, and the panko in the last. First, place the first pork chop in the plate of flour, turn it to cover both sides, and then shake off the excess. Next, put the chop in the egg, turning it to cover both sides, and letting the excess drip off. Lastly, put it in the plate with the panko, dropping panko onto the top-side to cover it as well. Don't shake, you want as much panko to stick as possible. Set aside and do the same for the other chops. Then, heat 1/4 in of oil in a large frying pan at medium heat. Once it is hot, put the pork chops in. Let them cook for about 3-5 minutes, then flip them, and cook them for 3-5 minutes on the other side, until both sides are golden brown. Place on a paper towel after they are fried, and pat them dry, so they are rid of excess oil. Cut into strips, and serve drizzled with Katsu Sauce! 

For the Sauce: 

1/4 cup Ketchup 

2 tbsp Soy Sauce 

1 1/2 tbsp Honey 

2 tbsp Teriyaki Sauce 

1 tsp Sugar  

In a medium bowl, mix the ketchup, soy sauce, honey, teriyaki sauce, and sugar thoroughly. Drizzle onto pork. Now, try to eat slowly. 

Note:

This is my own version of Katsu sauce because I didn't have the worcestershire sauce or mustard Nook & Pantry's recipe called for. Feel free to use hers or experiment by adding whatever else you would like!