Asian Flavors,  Cooking Recipes,  Foodie Life,  Great Eats,  Rice and grain dishes

The cheat’s 15-minute “Japanese” meal

Japanese cuisine is one of my favourites in the world. If I lived next door to an Omakase or even Sakura you would probably see me in there every other day! Luckily Manila does have its fair share of great Japanese restaurants. But as much as it would be great to eat out that often, reality is it simply is not practical. Back in my university and early working days, I would watch my allowance disappear over the week just from eating out or even eating at the cafeteria.


The other thing most people don’t have aside from that much disposable income is time to whip up really authentic Japanese dishes, especially on a weekday. Luckily with the rising popularity of ramen and katsu restaurants around the metro, some food brands have also produced some make-at-home ready-to-eat versions of these dishes. What’s more is that not only are they convenient, they take very little time, effort, or even cooking skill to prepare. Great for a quick food fix when you’re tired at the end of the day.


There’s this new product from Bounty Fresh called Top Torikatsu I recently got to try, and it’s a frozen version of the popular Japanese breaded chicken cutlet with a thin layer of golden breading on the outside. I was surprised to find this lean and juicy chicken meat inside that was actually quite tasty; a break from the usual image and quality of most frozen foods. This just goes to show that Bounty Fresh takes the quality of their poultry and products seriously.

I decided to make some Japanese-inspired fried rice to go along with the Bounty Fresh Top Torikatsu, and what a lovely pairing they made!

My favourite part about Top Torikatsu is how you have the option to fry OR bake it. Frying is quicker (about 3 minutes) compared to baking (about 10 minutes on both sides), but I tried it both ways and I really like it better baked. Aside from the fact that it is less oily, I find that the breading stays more intact through baking. But what I like most about baking the Top Torikatsu is that I can whip up my fried rice without worrying about leaving the chicken in hot oil for too long.

Fried rice usually goes with everything, and this one I’m sharing today has some bits of chashu in it to keep it somehow Japanese. You can customize it and add more veggies (some cabbage or beans would be nice!) or replace shrimp for the chashu, but it will still be tasty and have that light sweet-sour mirin taste that is a staple in Japanese rice dishes. 

This is a pretty easy way to have a filling meal on the table within 15 minutes! A bag of Top Torikatsu contains 6 pieces, which for us means each person gets a big piece of chicken atop their rice. It’s just coincidentally perfect, isn’t it? The bag I opened for this day was the Cheese and Chives Torikatsu, with a layer of oozing cream cheese and chives underneath the breading. YUM!

Top Torikatsu is also available in Original flavour which has a layer of mayonnaise instead of cheese. Both flavours are actually quite tasty and honestly they were gobbled up by my brothers within minutes of being set on the table!

Easy "Chahan"

Making no claims to authenticity, this easy to whip up and tasty fried rice has bits of chashu to keep it within the limits of Japanese fried rice.
Servings 6

Ingredients

For the rice

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
  • a dash of pepper
  • 3 to 5 cloves garlic
  • 3 ½ cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice, cook as per normal in rice cooker
  • 350 grams cooked Japanese Chashu, cubed into small bite-sized bits
  • 150 grams green French beans, chopped *
  • 80 grams carrot, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Japanese light soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Mirin
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • a dash of pepper

For the topping

  • 2 sprigs spring onions, chopped
  • Bounty Fresh Top Torikatsu

Instructions

  • 1. Beat eggs with light soy sauce and pepper. Set aside.
  • 2. Heat oil in a wok, sauté chopped garlic for few seconds until aromatic.
  • 3. Add in beans and carrot, stir fry for 1 minute.
  • 4. Push beans and carrot aside, pour in egg in the center of wok and scramble it a bit.
  • 5. Add in rice and chopped Chasu, season with salt, stir fry until well-combined.
  • 6. Sprinkle light soy sauce and mirin at the side of wok, add in salt and pepper, mix well with rice. Serve hot with a sprinkling of spring onions on top and slices of Bounty Fresh Top Torikatsu in flavour of choice.

Notes

* You can use cabbage or whatever vegetable you fancy.
Adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover blog
My brothers and I all gave Top Torikatsu our seal of approval, so I guess now we know how to handle sudden breaded Japanese chicken cravings, huh?

You can find out more about Bounty Fresh‘s Top Torikatsu from these channels:
FB page – https://www.facebook.com/toptorikatsu
Instagram – http://instagram.com/toptorikatsu
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/toptorikatsu

Disclaimer: Bounty Fresh provided me with Top Torikatsu to try but I can assure you that all opinions expressed above are mine and mine alone.

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