Katsudon . . . For the Egg Intolerant

The dreaded common household ingredient . . . plus a beloved egg shaped Sanrio character, Gudetama

Eggs.

Eggs are arguably the most useful and versatile ingredient in a chef’s pantry. If you think about it, eggs are in just about anything you could ever want to put in your mouth: Cookies, cake, custard, pasta, and just about every form of fried food. Humans are absolutely in love with using eggs and honestly I don’t blame them.

You could even argue that you don’t really realize how much we consume eggs on a daily basis unless you’re a person who can’t consume them. I’m one such person.

I’m allergic to eggs.

As someone who loves to bake and cook this is the part about me that I can’t stand most of all. In theory I too love eggs like much the rest of the world, or rather I love all the things they’re found in but allass I always have to summon the courage not to betray my body when presented with anything containing the evil ingredient. I can’t tell you how many times envious rage has boiled up inside me when passing by a delicious looking quiche in the grocery store. For the sake of my health and body I must stay vigilant.

I love eggs but like with most tragic romances we’ll be forever torn apart by forces greater than ourselves. But it’s not all doom and gloom. There’s always ways to love the things eggs are attached to without suffering the consequences of consuming them. You adapt. You edit recipes.

I do what humans do best. I adapt and evolve. I show eggs that they have no power over me and I don’t need them to have a fulfilling delicious life. Naturally, I’ve had to find ways that would allow me to adapt my favorite foods so that they no longer contain eggs.

Most of the time my methods work flawlessly and I’m able to bypass using eggs altogether without too much trouble but some foods will forever be lost to me; quiche, custards, meringues, deviled eggs, frittatas, the list goes on. The problem with these types of foods is that they’re based heavily on egg products in which the egg is the star. You can take the egg out of a cake but if you try to take the egg out of custard all you’re left with is weird sugar milk. There is a limit to how much you can change a recipe but for the most part baked goods can be forgiving if you know how to treat them right.

I’ve been cooking for as long as I’ve been able to see over the stove top so I learned long ago how to adapt recipes to fit my allergy. In most recipes eggs act as either a leavening agent or a binder and their role in the recipe determines how I can edit it. More times than not the decision boils down to two options: substitute the egg or omit it all together.

The first way to edit a recipe to not include egg is to substitute it. I usually choose this option when the egg is acting as a leavening agent (commonly with cake and other wet dough recipes). Eggless egg replacement products do exist on some commercial shelves that would make this method easier but are unfortunately typically unavailable in areas of the country with little grocery selection. The easy concoction that I typically default to is a mixture of oil, water, and baking powder which does the trick when I’m looking for a leavening replacement in most baked goods.

Per 1 egg:

1–½ Tablespoon of vegetable oil

1–½ tablespoon of water

1 teaspoon of baking power

Another method is to omit eggs all together. This method only works if the egg is acting as a cosmetic upgrade (like an egg wash on bread) or if it’s a binder like in most fried foods. With egg washes you simply brush a little bit of butter over that loaf of bread before baking instead. With fried foods and any foods eggs is acting as a binder, I’ve learned that you can substitute the eggs (which is typically used to hold breading together during frying) with milk, yogurt, or buttermilk with little to no difference in flavor or texture.

One of my favorite meals of all time is a fried Japanese dish called katsudon. If you don’t know what katsudon is, it’s a Japanese dished composed of deep fried pork cooked and egg cooked in a sweet and salty sauce all over a bed of rice. It’s absolutely sinful and is the perfect comfort food for a lazy Friday night.

Unfortunately, katsudon has multiple egg elements that I’ve learned to work around over the years.

The first thing to go is egg topping. As much as it pained me to get rid of it, there’s no saving scrambled eggs for someone who is allergic and there isn’t really a good substitute for eggs in its purest form. You could try replacing the egg with tofu scramble by crumbling a bit of firm tofu (that is if you do not also have a soy intolerance like me!).

The next work around is a bit easier to tackle and that’s the egg used in the binding of the fried pork. All you need to do is switch out the egg in your typical flour, egg, panko dredge with milk. It has no impact on flavor and you still get a delicious hunk of crispy meat to boot!

Traditionalists might scoff at my bastardization of a beloved Japanese classic but when your body hates a main ingredient you have to adapt and do what you can to keep the thing you love. What’s better is that I can call this recipe and many others my own because they are personally tailored to suit my body.

Would you like to try my eggless katsudon?

Ingredients (makes 4 substantial servings):

Tonkatsu (Fried pork)

• 4 portioned pork cutlets
• Salt
• Pepper
• Flour
• 1 cup of milk
• Panko
• Frying oil (Vegetable oil or whatever your favorite is)

Sauce

• 1 cup of Dashi (or chicken broth if it is unavailable)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 Tbs Sake (or rice vinegar if unavailable)
• 1 Sweet Onion (also called Vidalia in some areas)

Rice

• 4 cups of steamed rice (prepared by your bag’s instruction)

Instructions:

1. Steam rice per your bag’s instructions to make a total of 4 cups of steamed rice.
2. Tenderize the pork cutlets with a meat pounder or your handy dandy rolling pin. Sprinkle the pork on both sides with salt and pepper (I also like to add a sprinkle of powdered ginger for a bit of an extra tang but that is completely optional).
3. In three seperate bowls measure out a flour, panko, and milk. One by one, cover the pork chops, with four. Then dip it in the bowl of milk. For an extra crispy exterior repeat the last two instructions. Coat it with panko bread crumbs.
4. In your deep fryer or frying pan bring the oil up to a temperature where it immediately starts frying a spare panko bread crumb when dropped it. Fry each cutlet 2–3 minutes on each side or until golden brown, taking care not to crowd the pan. When crispy and golden in color remove the cutlets from the oil and set aside to cool.
5. Cut the sweet onion into thin slices and caramelize in a frying pan. While the onions are cooking mix together all the ingredients for the sauce in a separate bowl. Once the onions are cooked pour the sauce into the frying pan and let cook down on medium heat and simmer for a 2–3 minutes.
6. (Optional) Crumble firm tofu and add it to the sauce while its still cooking.
7. Slice the fried pork cutlet into strips
8. (Per serving totaling 4) Scoop 1 cup of steamed rice into a bowl, arrange 1 cutlet worth of pork slices on top of the rice, spoon over your sauce and optional tofu scramble over top.
9. Enjoy!