Japanese sando is the new flavour of the season; here is everything you should know

Representation Pic

Almost every culture has a toast with an ingredient fried in it. According to Lakhan Jethani, chef partner at Bandra's Izakaya-style Japanese restaurant Mizu, the Japanese sando is made of shokupan milk bread and became popular in the 1900s as part of yoshoku or Western influenced Japanese cuisine.

"You cook down a slurry on a pan and then put it into the bread dough to make it chewy. Today, chefs are recreating childhood food memories and packing them into sandos - from pork cutlets to wagyu, with a slather of bulldog sauce," says Jethani, adding that it was the Michelin chefs in Japan who made the concept spread across the whole world.

Katsu prawn sando

On his menu, is a prawn sando (Rs 920) version, inspired by the McDonald's Japan ‘Ebi' (prawn) burger which he had tasted in Kyoto. "It has a soy milk emulsion, homemade bulldog sauce and fried emulsified prawn cutlet. Usually, the sandos are non-grilled, but a lot of chefs toast it lightly on a charcoal grill," says Jethani.

Bandra-based chef Guntas Bhasin loves the versatile nature of the sando that can be filled with fresh seasonal fruits to pork cutlets and simple eggs. "Sandos are very customisable. The pillowy shokupan bread has a comforting texture making it stand out from all other sandwiches," she explains.

Katsu chicken sando in brioche bread with wasabi green apple slaw

The chicken breast is dredged in corn flour, egg and then, panko crust (right) chef Amal Farooque slathers tonkatsu sauce on the chicken katsu sando

Chef Amal Farooque, founder of Sage & Olio, says an un-grilled sandwich remains fresh longer because the heat is absorbed by the fresh, non-grilled bread. "It's meant to be fuss-free. My dad used to make a mutton cutlet sandwich with pickled onions and Dijon mustard. My mum's version was with chicken mayo, spicy lassan ki chutney and aioli."

INGREDIENTS

The sando is ready. Pics/ADITI HARALKAR

For katsu chicken
>> 1 chicken breast, cut three slices lengthwise
>> 1 tbsp miso paste
>> 1/4 cup corn starch
>> 1 egg
>> 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
>> Brioche bread
For green apple wasabi slaw
>> 1/2 green apple, julienned
>> 1/4 cabbage, shredded
>> 1/4 carrot, julienned
>> 1 spring onion, sliced
>> Salt to taste
>> 1 tsp vinegar
>> 1/4 tsp salt
>> 1/8 tsp black pepper
>> 1/2 tsp wasabi
>> 1 tbsp mayo
>> 1/2 tsp sugar
For Tonkatsu sauce
>> 1/4 soy sauce
>> 1 tbsp sweet soy
>> 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
>> 2 tbsp ketchup
>> 2 tbsp honey
>> 1/4 tsp black pepper

Lakhan Jethani and Guntas Bhasin

METHOD
For katsu chicken, apply miso paste chicken breast slices. Cover and rest in fridge for an hour. In three trays get the corn starch, egg and panko ready. Dredge the chicken slices in corn flour, egg and then panko crumbs. For slaw, combine everything together and set aside. For tonkatsu sauce, mix everything and set aside. To assemble the sando, deep fry katsu chicken cutlets till golden brown. Butter thick slices of milk loaf and place two katsu chicken cutlets on the buttered side. Drizzle tonkatsu sauce on cutlets, place slaw, close sando. Slightly press it down and cut into two.

Tamago sando

Disha Khurana, who develops recipes on @aperfectfusion makes her sandos with choice of protein or fruit; condiments like kewpie mayo, mustard or sweetened whipped cream, and salad veggies and garnishes like chopped scallion or simple Japanese seasoning mix. Her version of an Indian sando is a dahi-malai mixture with chopped veggies, and fresh coriander seasoned with salt-pepper in white bread.

INGREDIENTS
>> 3 boiled eggs
>> 3 tbsp mayonnaise
>> 1-2 tbsp spring onion greens, finely chopped
>> 1/2 tsp black pepper
>> Salt to taste
>> Bread slices

METHOD
Chop or grate boiled eggs in a bowl and mix all the ingredients well. Cut the sides of bread slices and spread the egg mixture generously on a slice of bread. Place another bread slice and cut in the centre.

Craving sando

>> Chef Arnez Driver has dry-aged buff for three weeks for the ongoing offering steakhouse-style meals until stock lasts in their SoBo kitchen. On the same menu, he has a Chicago b''f sando (Rs 700) that uses pulled buff, an 18-hour braised buff. A crusty hoagie bread roll is filled with pulled buff cooked with pickled assorted vegetables with a dipping broth made of buff jus.
AT KMC', 1st Floor, Shop No 2, Kitab Mahal, Fort.
TIMING 12 pm to 11 pm
Call 9987653397

Katsu chicken sando

>> Mokai, a new Asian café in Bandra, offers three sandos. Katsu chicken sando (Rs 520) with panko fried chicken, 3 mushroom truffle brie (Rs 495) and a pandan mango sando (Rs 395).
AT Mokai, Chapel Road, St Sebastian Colony, Ranwar, Bandra West.
TIMING 7 am to 8 pm
Log on to @mokaiindia