Name: Sardine katsu sandwich
Total time: 40 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 100g plain flour, well seasoned; 1 egg, beaten with 50ml water; 100g panko breadcrumbs, lightly crushed; 4 fresh sardines, cleaned and butterflied, tails left on (ask the fishmonger to do this for you); ¼ white cabbage, very thinly sliced; for deep-frying vegetable oil; 8 slices white bread, crusts removed and cut into 10cm x 10cm squares; tonkatsu sauce, (see notes below); 3 tbsp Kewpie or mayonnaise, (see notes below); 1 tbsp tonkatsu sauce; 1 tbsp rice vinegar

100g plain flour
well seasoned
1 egg
beaten with 50ml water
100g panko breadcrumbs
lightly crushed
4 fresh sardines
cleaned and butterflied, tails left on (ask the fishmonger to do this for you)
¼ white cabbage
very thinly sliced
for deep-frying vegetable oil
8 slices white bread
crusts removed and cut into 10cm x 10cm squares
tonkatsu sauce
(see notes below)

KEWPIE DRESSING

3 tbsp Kewpie or mayonnaise
(see notes below)
1 tbsp tonkatsu sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar

Method

step 1
Put the flour, egg and most of the breadcrumbs into 3 separate shallow bowls. Spread the reserved breadcrumbs onto a baking tray.
step 2
Hold the tail of each sardine and lightly dredge in the flour (avoiding the tail). Pat off the excess flour and then lightly coat in egg, shaking off any excess again before coating in the crushed panko. Put on the tray of breadcrumbs to stop them going soggy.
step 3
Combine the Kewpie dressing ingredients with ¹/2 tsp salt. Put the cabbage into a large bowl and lightly coat in the dressing.
step 4
Fill a pan no more than ¹/3 full with oil and heat to 170C or until a cube of bread browns in 40 seconds. Fry the sardines for 2 minutes or until golden brown, then drain on kitchen paper.
step 5
Lay the bread slices on a chopping board, and brush liberally with tonkatsu sauce so that it soaks in. Put sardines on 4 of the bread slices, top with the cabbage and the other slices of bread. Cut in ¹/2 and serve.