What is a Pork Tonkatsu Flatbread?

Pork Tonkatsu Flatbread is a Middle Eastern / Japanese “pizza” of sorts. Soft flatbread is topped with fresh parmesan cheese and crispy pork tonkatsu and baked to a slight crisp. Thinly sliced cucumber along with a tonkatsu and tzatziki sauce is then added to the mix. As a finishing touch, the flatbread is topped with green onions and black sesame seeds.

Where’d It Come From?

Tonkatsu comes from Japan, though borrows many of its original characteristics from Western cultures. Flatbread can be traced back to the origins of bread which, before the advent of yeast and refined flour, were essentially all flat. Read on to learn more about the history of my favorite types of food – doughy, fried, and porky.

Want to dig deeper into the roots of these dishes? Check out our Food History 101 Blog!

– Click here to learn about the origin of Pork Tonkatsu

– Click here to learn about the history of Flatbread

How’s It Made?

Makes: 4 servings | Passive prep time: 30 minutes | Active prep/cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

¼ cup ketchup
1 tbs soy sauce
½ tbs brown sugar
½ tbs mirin
3 cloves minced garlic
½ tsp minced ginger
2 cucumbers
1 tbs salt
Handful of mint leaves
¾ cup greek yogurt
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs chopped dill
2 boneless pork cutlets / center-cup chops
1 egg
1 tbs worcestershire
⅓ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup flour
4 pieces of flatbread
1 ½ cup freshly grated parmesan
Frying oil
Olive oil
Black sesame seeds and chopped green onions for garnish

Instructions:

Make tonkatsu sauce by combining ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, ginger, and ½ clove of minced garlic. Mix, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Make the cucumber salad. Cut cucumbers first into quarters lengthwise, then into thin slices. Toss in salt and place into a strainer to sit so the liquid is extracted.
Meanwhile, make the tzatziki sauce by crushing remaining garlic with mint leaves into a paste. Combine with yogurt, lemon juice and dill. Cover and refrigerate cucumber and sauce in separate bowls.
Pound pork cutlets flat until it is ⅛-inch thick.
Whisk egg and worcestershire sauce together. In two additional shallow bowls, place panko and flour.
Dredge pork in flour first, then egg mixture, then panko.
Heat ⅛ inch of oil in a large pan. Pan fry pork for 3 minutes on each side. Slice pork into strips
Preheat oven 400 degrees.
Spray flatbread with water then brush with olive oil.
Top flatbread with parmesan and pork – bake for 8 minutes directly on oven rack.
Allow flatbread to cool for a few minutes before adding cucumber, drizzle of tonkatsu sauce, tzatziki sauce, green onions and black sesame seeds.