Japanese Tonkatsu Sauce

Ingredients

• 90 ml Japanese or English Worcestershire sauce
• 120 g classic ketchup
• 25 ml dark Japanese soy sauce
• 20 ml rice vinegar
• 30 g granulated brown sugar
• 1 piece sweet apple such as Gala or Fuji
• 0.5 pieces yellow onion
• 1 clove fresh garlic
• 10 g fresh ginger
• 2 tsp Japanese karashi mustard
• 1 pinch ground black pepper

Method

1. Peel the apple, remove the core, and grate it very finely. Also grate the onion, garlic, and ginger to make a moist pulp rather than visible pieces.
2. Put the fruit and aromatic pulp in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan with the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and black pepper. Whisk until the base is homogeneous.
3. Heat over medium heat until the first small bubbles appear around the edges, then immediately lower the heat. The sauce should simmer gently without splattering or sticking to the bottom.
4. Reduce, stirring very often with a spatula, especially across the bottom and into the corners of the pan. The sauce is ready when it becomes darker and glossy and coats the spatula, leaving a clear line for a few seconds.
5. Taste off the heat: the sauce should be sweet-and-savory, tangy, and spicy but not hot. If the acidity dominates, continue cooking very gently; if it seems too dense, loosen it with a splash of hot water.
6. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing the pulp firmly with the back of a spoon to recover all the coating sauce. The final texture should be smooth and as thick as a brown table sauce, with no visible fibers.
7. Let cool slightly, then transfer to a clean jar. Refrigerate until serving: as it cools, the sauce thickens and becomes rounder.
8. Serve cold or at room temperature, in a generous ribbon over crisp tonkatsu, with very finely shredded cabbage and a dab of karashi on the side.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

100.4 kcal

Protein

1.42 g

Carbohydrate

21.44 g

Fat

0.38 g

Fibre

1.14 g

Calcium

19.02 mg

Iron

0.53 mg

Magnesium

17.64 mg