I started the day frying melon, and it was good. I was then drawn to other Japanese preparations of fried ingredients. Initially, I planned on making melon tonkatsu, which is really just tempura melon confit served with our variation on a ketchup-based sauce used for fried Japanese pork loin. (Yes, that is a bit wordy, but heck, it’s my train of ideas.)
As I thought of the tempura melon, I became inspired by another traditional dish that features tonkatsu but also includes rice, an egg, and scallions. The dish is katsudon, and while traditionally made with pork, I figured our extrapolation of ingredients would work well. So, we steamed some brown rice, which I seasoned with truffle puree and truffle oil. We made a hot spring egg to sit in the truffled rice nest. I made a scallion and jalapeno relish to adorn the dish, and finally, I fried a large fillet of melon confit. The final additions to the dish included shiso leaves and a sauce made with ginger ketchup, ponzu sauce, and sesame oil. While I am not a big fan of frying foods (rather cleaning up the mess), I foresee several dishes incorporating tempura melon in our evolving repertoire.
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