Wasabi and Panko-Crusted Pork with Gingered Soy Sauce

Photo from Cooking Light

Source: Cooking Light, March 2006

Panko are coarse white breadcrumbs used in this quick and easy interpretation of the Japanese dish tonkatsu. Look for panko and wasabi paste in the ethnic-foods section of the supermarket. Substitute chicken broth if you don't have sake or sherry on hand. Serve with rice and steamed snow peas and carrots for a complete meal.

2/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
1 teaspoon peanut oil
Cooking spray
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons sake or dry sherry
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon wasabi paste
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions

Place panko in a shallow dish. Place egg white in another shallow dish. Dip pork in egg white; dredge in panko.

Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat; add pork. Cook for 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove pork from pan; sprinkle with salt.

Reduce heat to medium. Add ginger to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Combine broth and the next 4 ingredients (through wasabi) in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in green onions. Spoon sauce over pork. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and about 1 tablespoon sauce)

NUTRITION PER SERVING: CALORIES 215(28% from fat); FAT 6.8g (sat 2.1g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 24.5g; CHOLESTEROL 65mg; CALCIUM 15mg; SODIUM 454mg; FIBER 0.9g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.8g

Melanie Barnard
Cooking Light, MARCH 2006

My notes: Easy and yummy. However, I find it hard to cook with such a small amount of oil when it involves breadcrumbs. Dry breadcrumbs just aren't appealing. The breadcrumbs really need contact with the oil to be at their best, so I usually use a bit more oil than CL calls for.

I talked about this recipe HERE.