今日の夕食は、トンカツでした。我が家ではいつも、フィレ肉です。今日は、真ん中に紫蘇を挟んで揚げました。フィレ肉が小さめだったのでちょっと物足りないかも、と思い、今日はお味噌汁も作りました。ポークフィレの端っこのとんかつに使いにくい部分を切って加えたので、豚汁みたいな感じです。他の具は人参、玉ねぎ、ミニトマト。どちらも、とても美味しかったです。

Today’s dinner was Tonkatsu (Japanese Pork Cutlet).  I put shiso (steak leaf) inside each slice by making a slit in the middle.  As the pork fillet was on the small side, I thought it may not be filling enough so I made miso soup as well, which is unusual because my husband usually says he doesn’t think we need it.  I added the end bit of the fillet in the soup so it was more like Tonjiru (Pork Miso Soup), other ingredients I added were carrot, onion and mini tomatoes.  Both the Tonkatsu and the Miso Soup were very tasty.

この何年か、特にここ最近、塩麹や玉ねぎ麹などが流行っている気がします。わたしもしばらく前に作って使っているのですが、質の良いお塩を使うにのに比べてそれほど違うかな？と言う気がしていて、たまに違いを感じるという程度です。今日はフィレ肉を揚げる大きさに切って真ん中に切り目を入れた状態で塩麹と玉ねぎ麹を揉み込んでしばらく漬けて使ってみたのですが、ちょっと揚げすぎた気がしましたが硬くならず柔らかく美味しく出来たのは麹のお陰だったのかもしれません。

In the recent years, specially the last couple of years, making sho-koji, onion-koji seems very popular in Japan.  (Koji is the term for a grain or bean that has been inoculated with Aspergillus Oryzae.  As it’s fermented it’s supposed to be good for your health but is also supposed to improve taste adding extra umami.)  I also made some of each type a little while ago and have been using them instead of plain salt but I’m not totally sure if it really makes noticeable difference comparing to using good salt.  Today, I marinaded the slices of pork fillet with onion-koji and salt-koji for 30 minutes or so.  I thought I had fried them a little too long today but they were still very tender and juicy and I am wondering if it’s to do with the koji.