Sesame Soba with Glazed Sweet Potato Katsu
Admittedly, I’m a sucker for sesame. Sesame oil, sesame seeds, tahini (a ground sesame seed paste), you name it, I’m in. This sesame soba packs in not one, not two, but three marvelous forms of sesame. It also packs an ton of flavor, a bit of heat, and lets not forget the crispiest of Katsus (“Katsu” is essentially any panko-crusted cutlet)! While this dish does require a handful of ingredients, the whole thing comes together so quickly and easily, and is sure to impress a crowd.
Check out the recipe below!
Disclaimer: this recipe is an adaptation of one found @ Bon Appetit
Ingredients
4oz Soba Noodles
4 Tbsp Soy Sauce: Low sodium preferred
3 Tbsp Honey
4 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1-2 Chili Peppers: Serrano, Fresno, or Holland Preferred. Sliced Thinly. Choose quantity based on desired spice level. For reference, one chili (sliced with seeds left in) was very, very mild.
Neutral Cooking Oil: Canola, Grapeseed, and Peanut are all fine options. Quantity may vary depending on your cooking heat and the size of your pan, so just keep the bottle nearby.
1 Egg: whisked
½ Cup of Panko Bread Crumbs: Panko is required, both for a traditional “katsu” and for the desired crunch! If this is a new addition to your pantry, trust us, once you go panko you’ll never go back.
¼ Cup of All-Purpose Flour
2 Green Onions/Scallions: Thinly sliced. Use the whole thing (minus the butt-end)!
½ Tbsp Sesame Seeds: Toasted is preferred but any kind will do.
½ Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
2 Tbsp Tahini
1 Medium Sweet Potato: Sliced longitudinally (along the long direction) into ¼” thick rounds. In truth, 2-3 rounds will likely be enough for one serving. If you have excess, you can either scale up the rest of the recipe accordingly, or fry up the remaining rounds in a pan with oil on medium heat until each side is well browned and season with salt! There are a million ways to cook a sweet potato but this would be an easy way to use up the excess in this recipe!
Preparation:
Whisk the Soy Sauce, 3 Tbsp Rice Vinegar, and Honey in a bowl until completely smooth (warming the Honey before mixing in will ease the process substantially). Add in the sliced chillies and stir.
Assemble your breading station! Add your mixed egg (with a splash of water) to a shallow bowl or plate, add your panko to another, and add your flour to a third.
Pour enough oil in your pan to cover the bottom completely (we are not trying to deep fry anything here, this just needs to be a thin layer throughout) and put your pan on medium heat. While the pan is heating, begin breading. Coat the potato-round in flour, shake off any excess, place in the egg tray and coat, let excess drip off, place in the panko tray and pat the breadcrumbs onto the round until every inch is well covered. Check your oil temperature (if it moves around the pan quickly, its hot). Once the pan is hot enough, carefully place your potato cutlet in the pan and continue the breading process with the rest of your cutlets! After roughly a minute and a half, begin checking your cutlet. You want a golden brown color on both sides, so once one side is done, flip and let that side cook. Each side should take 1.5-3 minutes.
In the meantime, begin boiling the water for your Soba noodles (we recommend following the instructions given on the package).
Place each of your cutlets to the side to cool. We recommend letting them cool on a wire-rimmed baking rack if possible (this allows air to reach all sides of the cutlet and prevents any sogginess from developing).
If the water for your soba is boiling, now is a good time to begin cooking them. The instructions may say to rinse/wash your soba noodles after they’re done cooking, but don’t! We want hot noodles, and any cooking water retained in the noodles will help them mix in with the final sauce.
While the noodles are cooking. Clean out any leftover breadcrumbs in the pan, place back on medium heat, and add your soy-sauce mixture. Stir continuously until the sauce thickens substantially (you should be able to coat the back of a spoon with it). Once the sauce has thickened, add your cutlets to the pan and let cook for roughly 30 seconds on each side before returning to your baking rack.
Pour the sauce out of the pan and into a medium sized bowl. Add your tahini, the rest of the tahini, and whisk until smooth. If the sauce thickened substantially in the pan (to the point where this is more of a syrup than a sauce), we recommend adding a small amount of the noodle cooking water to the bowl until the desired consistency is reached (we recommend the consistency of a very thick sauce). Add your noodles to the sauce, gently mix until well incorporated, and set to the side.
Time to plate! Add your saucy noodles to a bowl. Slice your Sweet Potato Katsu on a diagonal and place over the noodles. Top with your sesame seeds and sliced green onions and enjoy!
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid packaged produce, or really anything packaged for that matter. This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it! For example, you may sometimes see peppers in their own plastic containers, green onions in plastic wrap, and sweet potatoes in a plastic mesh. These are all very often available sans any container, so take the opportunity to use your hands, smell the produce, build that relationship with your ingredients!
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! Fortunately, everything in this recipe other than the egg and hot peppers will all last a while, so with those if you buy a bit more than you needed, you’ll have plenty of time to use them in the future. But with the eggs and hot peppers, those will go bad fairly quickly so buy with care!
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
Most of these ingredients are household staples that are relatively inexpensive and last a long time.
The Sweet Potato was chosen as it is currently seasonal to the Northeast, thus working to mitigate waste within local seasonal produce and reduce possible shipping and handling (big contributors to cost, carbon footprint, and freshness!). Additionally, the flavor and shelf life make it a really attractive option! Traditional Japanese Katsu typically uses Chicken or Pork, so we decided to explore a meat-free option that spares no flavor or enjoyability. If you were hoping to work more protein into this dish, the recipe can be replicated with extra-firm tofu, or Chicken if you’re able to source it locally and sustainably!
It is likely that the most well known producers of the rice vinegar, sesame seed oil, and soy sauce are located in Asia. There may be fantastic options that are located more locally and I would encourage you to explore those options! You might be able to save on significant shipping emissions and will be able to support and connect with local businesses!
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