Baked Tonkatsu and Sesame Garlic Brussels Sprouts

Normally, tonkatsu is fried and super delicious. Now, I have nothing against frying or fat or oil or anything, but fat has more calories than carbohydrates or protein. So I decided to see if baking it works. And it does. Baked tonkatsu is not as good as fried, of course, but it's still quite delicious and has far fewer calories. Typically, it's served with steamed white rice and raw shredded green cabbage. I decided that the panko bread crumbs were enough carbohydrates that rice was unnecessary, and that raw shredded green cabbage is boring, so I cooked up some shredded Brussels spouts with garlic and sesame oil.

Baked Tonkatsu
1 lb boneless pork cutlets
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 C panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper
coconut oil spray (or another high-heat oil)

Let me first say that you probably won't use all of the flour or bread crumbs, so you can adjust those accordingly after you've made it once. Every pork cutlet is different, though, so put more in your dishes to be safe so you don't have to wash your hands and refill mid-dredge. I ended up using about 1/6 C of flour and not quite 1 C of bread crumbs (I think... the package was not labeled correctly, so I went by weight when I input it in MFP's recipe builder).

Preheat your oven to 450°F. Set a wire rack on a cookie sheet and spray the rack with oil.

Pour the flour onto a plate, add salt and pepper, and mix together. Beat the egg in a small bowl (you may want to add a little water for consistency) with a touch of salt and pepper. Pour the bread crumbs into a bowl that is large enough to accommodate the cutlets.

Coat a cutlet in the seasoned flour, shake off the excess, then dunk it in the egg, let the excess egg drip off, then toss it in the bread crumbs until it's well-coated. Place it on the wire rack and repeat with the remaining cutlets. Put them in the oven for about 12 minutes, turning once. Oven temperatures can vary, so if they aren't browning, turn your oven all the way up for an additional few minutes. I think next time I'm going to spray them with oil just for that hint of fried flavor.

Before serving, cut the tonkatsu into strips. Serve with katsu sauce and sesame garlic Brussels sprouts.

Katsu Sauce
2 T ketchup
1 T molasses
2 T ponzu sauce (you could use soy sauce, but ponzu is better)
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t black pepper

Mix everything together! Usually I add 2 T unsweetened applesauce as well, but I'm out right now. You should add it if you have it.

Sesame Garlic Brussels Sprouts
1 T sesame oil
4 small cloves of garlic
1 10-oz bag shaved Brussels sprouts (I suppose you could get whole sprouts and shave them yourself)
salt and pepper
1 T soy sauce
Sesame seeds for garnish

Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over low heat. Smash and peel the garlic, then slice it thinly. Add the garlic and Brussels sprouts to the oil and season with a little salt (just a bit because of the soy sauce later) and pepper. Cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the soy sauce at the end. Spoon into bowls and garnish with sesame seeds (I did both black and white for fun).

Put it all together:

Serves 2.