Teriyaki Glazed Pork Cutlets

Teriyaki sauce is much easier to make than most would think. I do agree, it may come across as rather silly to trouble yourself in making a sauce so easily available in supermarket aisles. "It's as ridiculous as making your own ketchup!", a friend of mine once exclaimed.

Nonetheless, I'd like to tell all my dear readers that it's dead simple; it calls for only 4 ingredients (sake, mirin, soy, sugar), and takes at most 30 seconds to make! Some might be put off at the thought of finding sake and mirin althogether, but truth be known, sake can actually be found at your local bottle shop, and mirin at any supermarket. Eureka!

Teriyaki sauce goes with anything.. absolutely anything: steaks, chops, fish, prawns, vegs.. Take a minute to make up a little batch of this and it will keep in the fridge for weeks. Whip it out at any time to season grilled meats or spruce up stir fries. See, cooking IS easy when you have versatile sauces like this on hand!



Teriyaki Sauce

Basic ratio:
3 tbsps sugar
5 tbsps mirin
5 tbsps sake
100 ml Japanese soy sauce

Measure and mix all ingredients in a bowl. Simple as!

You may increase the yield of the recipe by simply multiplying the ingredients, following the same ratio.

Teriyaki Glazed Pork Cutlets

4 pork loin/leg cutlets
2 tbsp oil
1 quantity teriyaki sauce (recipe above)
Toasted sesame seeds and seaweed sheets to garnish (optional)

Grill pork cutlets in a hot pan with the oil on both sides till half cooked. Add in teriyaki sauce and let simmer until it thickens enough to coat and glaze the chops. Garnish with sesame seeds and shredded seaweed sheets. Apply this same technique to other proteins such as beef, chicken and fish.

Tip: If cutlets are cooked before the sauce has reduced to a honey-like consistency, remove them to a seperate plate first. Continue to simmer the sauce until it thickens and becomes sticky. Return cutlets to the pan and smear with the sticky sauce. Please do not be tempted to leave the already-cooked pork in the sauce just because it seems "troublesome" to take it out and put it back in again later. Overcooked pork is mighty tough and horrible!


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