WCS: Last night's dinner at home is today's lunch at work...but with an upgrade

03 MARCH 2011. I don't know what time the idea exactly hit me. I got up (with a bit of struggle) to get hubby’s breakfast in order, which is—tada: rice topped with a fried egg. OK, I’m really dismayed at myself. I can do better than that. But hubby didn’t want sardines or anything else with his meal, and apparently enjoyed his breakfast (I would never have finished all that rice with just a bland, fried egg).

We still had a lot of rice from the night before. Hubby said I bring some for our lunch para hindi masayang. Lately, rice spoils easily at home. We don’t understand the phenomenon. We used to have leftover rice survive until the next evening, at times, even the day after. There was still leftover pork chop, the thin kind you buy from the grocery already breaded, from the previous night. It was mom who cooked it last night so there were pieces that were too brown (in other words, sunog! LOL). I said I’ll heat it and put it over the rice.

I put hubby’s baon together—which was composed of Spanish bread and ensaymada we brought from the plaza last night, a bag of steamed peanuts and a pack of Hansel cookies—and went upstairs to get a few more minutes of sleep. I leave the house for work an hour later than hubby does so he encourages me to sleep some more. I’ve been having a toothache that has been waking me and keeping me up at night the last few days, robbing me of precious winks.

So I really don’t know what time the idea hit me—just before I took a nap or when I woke up again. I do remember remembering the bottle of mirin—Japanese sweet rice wine—in the refrigerator, the one I used for the gyudon-ish beef dish a few weekends ago. Then the cold leftover porkchop on the kitchen table…


And katsudon. I want katsudon.


Wait…maybe I can make katsudon, ne?


The last katusdon meal I had was the one served at Sizzling Plate at SM Southmall food court (OK, it’s not even authentic, hahaha!) before the total renovation. The sudden craving is understandable.

No sooner had I made up my mind to it, I was in the kitchen once more. I didn’t check a recipe online—honestly, it didn’t occur to me as I was just so focused to get at it. =) All I did was try to remember what was in a Sizzling Plate Katsudon bowl (gosh, it isn’t even authentic)…

I beat an egg in a bowl and added thinly sliced onions and a pinch of salt. There were no veggies in the refrigerator. Was looking if we had at least a small carrot (to make for a “healthy” dish). But I had to make do with the onions. Anyway, I think that’s what the recipe just calls for…and green onions, which I do not have.

Shortcut of all shortcuts, LOL

In a small bowl, I mixed a small bit of mirin with soy sauce. I didn’t put anything more, as the breaded porkchop already had this sweet taste that little bro—Mr. Plain Dry Food Please—complained about last night. I bought it thinking it was plain (it looked plain), and not knowing it had some kind of marinade. Malay ko ba.

Soy sauce and mirin only. It just happened

that my leftover breaded pork chop already
had this light sweet flavour. On normal
occasions, sugar will be needed.

I dipped a porkchop in the egg mixture and fried it, constantly turning the porkchop over so the egg will coat it, dripping a bit more egg and onions as needed. As the egg was cooking, I drizzled the soy sauce-mirin mix on it. I wasn’t able to do this quite evenly though. I also made some more of the sauce to put on the rice, but too little, fearing it would already be too salty.

I know this isn’t the correct procedure,

but I don’t want to be late for work!

It was done in almost a flash. It is after all a shortcut. I put rice in a big Lock-n-Lock, put the katsu-daw (katsudon daw) on top, slipped in fried sweet potato slices (leftovers also) and locked it up.

OK, so it isn’t very attractive (with mom

burning the meat last night), but hubby
and I had a rather enjoyable lunch today. ^_^

All packed up!

I immediately made a disclaimer, just as hubby and I got seated for lunch, that I did something with our ulam. So he was no longer shocked when he saw the egg-y thing I bought. And he liked it. Enough to finish all that rice I brought. ^_^

Katsu-daw

Makes 2 pieces

2 pieces leftover breaded porkchop

1 small egg, beaten

1 tbsp onion, sliced thinly lengthwise

Pinch of salt

Katsu-daw sauce*

2 tbsps soy sauce

1 tsp mirin

*I used store-bought breaded porkchop that has been flavored. If yours is plain (or you make it from scratch), a few more ingredients need to go into the sauce like sugar. For the real recipe, you may refer to this one I found this afternoon, long after I swallowed the last bite of my cheap shot lunch. =)

*BB*

WCS: Corned tuna torta (special)

17 JUNE 2010. I got the idea from an officemate, who one day brought mini tortas of corned tuna. Everyone eating lunch with us had a bite and liked it. When asked about the sophisticated recipe, she simply said, laughing, "Wala, corned tuna lang, hinalo sa binating itlog. 'Yun na!"
I tried it at home, adding a bit of dried oregano and ground pepper to the usual pinch of salt, and it got good acceptance. My younger brother, who's currently my food critic (as he's the pickiest person here)--with my older brother and his family now moved out of the house--liked it. Quick, easy and delicious, I've made it for breakfast several times even if I didn't have that much time. It was that cheap shot.

Now stuck quarantined at home for days now, I've been itching to cook. This morning and plucked out the leftover corned tuna in a plastic container from the refrigerator. It would definitely not be enough for me, my dad, my mom and my younger brother. There must've been just 2-3 tablespoons left. Previously, a part of it was made into a sandwich combined with dried thyme, Chiz Whiz pimiento, slices of fresh white onion and tomato; another portion of it was tossed with angelhair pasta the next day.
A whim had come over me from the time I woke up. I already knew I wanted to make the tuna tortas again, but I wanted to tweak it. So I rummaged the refrigerator for more items aside from two eggs...
Good morning! Corned tuna torta (special)!

I like making small Corned Tuna Tortas (volume is about three tablespoons).

Younger bro found it a bit weird, of course, given his preference for the plainest of them all. But he had it with rice, satisfied enough. Dad liked it; he had it on bread and with some banana ketchup (something I don't exactly recommend, because I haven't tried...parang gross e). Mom, who didn't seem to be in a good mood, I didn't get feedback...
Corned Tuna Torta

serves 4-6

1 small can corned tuna

1 small carrot, julienned

1 small red bell pepper, julienned

1 small white onion, julienned

2-3 eggs (depending on size)

grated parmesan cheese (optional, honestly, I don't think this did any good)

a pinch of dried oregano (optional, but this makes the tuna taste less fishy)

salt and pepper

Note: Amount of veggies depend on the amount of tuna. Feel free to tweak as you like. I'm thinking of mushrooms next time... Servings depend on the amount your folks can eat. Hehehe! 

Corned tuna torta on bread

P.S. I'll go back to my previous posts so I can write down the recipes. Do feel free to try them and comment. You might have I good idea how I can improve them. *BB*