Of all the crispy fried cutlet variations that have tantalized me over the years, Kay Chun's chicken katsu might be the most weeknight friendly. Instead of turning to the usual messy deep-fry, Kay shallow-fries the cutlets by using just enough oil to submerge them halfway. The thin disks of meat emerge golden, crunchy and juicy inside, ready for their customary accompaniments of steamed white rice and a shaggy mound of shredded green cabbage.
Pounding meat into thin cutlets is one age-old path to speedier cooking; using ground meat to make meatballs is another. For a lighter, brighter take on the usual meatballs in tomato sauce, I have a gingery, cumin-scented version that calls for fresh tomatoes rather than canned.
For a midweek meal without meat, Hetty Lui McKinnon's mushroom pasta stir-fry shows how versatile stir-frying can be, brilliantly using the technique to make a simple but deeply flavored pasta sauce out of mushrooms seared with fragrant Chinese five-spice powder and drizzled with a mix of maple syrup, soy sauce, and chile and sesame oils.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]