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Tonteki is sauteed pork loin with a garlicky savory brown sauce. This hearty but reasonable B-class gourmet dish started in Yokkaichi city in Mie prefecture originally, but gradually spread to other parts of Japan.
Tonteki means pork (ton) steak (teki), and its origin is interestingly at a Chinese restaurant in Yokkaichi city in the 1960s. The dish was first created by the restaurant owner to satisfy the appetite of manual labor workers in the industrial city, but it gained its popularity quickly with many other people. Now a lot of restaurants in the area and beyond serve this pork dish with variations of their brown sauce.
It is easy to make at home with simple ingredients, and the only tip for the dish is not to cook pork too long because it tends to get dry. If using 1/2″ thick steaks, it only takes 2-3 minutes each side to cook. Try this easy but tasty Tonteki for dinner tonight!
Tonteki Recipe
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time8 minutes mins
Total Time18 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: pork
Servings: 2 servings
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Ingredients
- 2 pork loin chops about 1″ thick, no bones
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp oil
- 1 clove garlic thinly sliced
Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp water
Instructions
Make small cuts all over the pork chops with the tip of a knife. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of meat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove any moisture with a paper towel.
Meanwhile, mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat oil in a frying pan with garlic at medium heat. Remove the garlic after browned. Then add pork and cook for 2-3 minutes each side.
Add the prepared sauce to the pan and coat with meat. Remove the meat from the pan, and continue cooking the sauce until slightly thickened.
Cut the steak into 1″ width pieces, and put on a plate. Pour the sauce over meat, and garnish with fried garlic.
Video
June 5, 2018 By JapaneseCooking101
About JapaneseCooking101
Noriko and Yuko, the authors of this site, are both from Japan but now live in California. They love cooking and eating great food, and share a similar passion for home cooking using fresh ingredients.Noriko and Yuko plan and develop recipes together for Japanese Cooking 101. They cook and shoot photos/videos at their home kitchen(s.)
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Ronda Bowers
June 5, 2018 at 12:15 pm
Can this sauce be used on shrimp or chicken and what can be served with the pork veggies or starch
JapaneseCooking101
June 7, 2018 at 5:19 pm
We haven’t tried it with shrimp or chicken, but that actually sounds good!
Simple salad and rice will go well with this dish.
Robert Haynie
June 11, 2018 at 12:50 am
It’s sort of like a naked Tonkatsu simmered a bit in a made from scratch sauce. Think I’ll give this one a try.
dannie
June 21, 2018 at 12:07 am
yummy…the pork pieces look delicious, I give this recipe a five star rating for it simplicity .
