Chicken Katsudon.

Take that, inflation.

The US Fed has increased interest rate by 0.25% this month and projects six more in 2022. The Australian RBA is poised to follow suit with 4 hikes scheduled before the end of the year.

What does this mean?

It means the government thinks money is currently too cheap, so they're trying to prevent people from borrowing more money, and encourage people to save more.

If people spend less money, then prices will go down. In short, they are trying to stop inflation.

What does this mean, again?

They think your $5 coffee is going to cost $7 soon. Get it?

And if your salary is not increasing by 40%, you better buckle up and start saving some money. You know, borrow your uncle’s Costco card, or start shopping at ALDI.

Hah, jokes on you, federal banks, I've been shopping at ALDI since 2015. You can’t make me poor if I was never rich to start with.

This war pandemic is the same as the flu pandemic. And by now everyone knows the drill - just stay home and don’t blow money on cocaine, hookers, and holidays. We’ll save plenty of money, but we will also go insane.

No one knows where the war is heading, where the fuel price is going. Frankly, it’s out of our control. The only thing I know best is just to cook more. Enjoy the little things in life.

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Have you ever tried making katsudon?

That Japanese bowl of rice topped with deep-fried breaded pork cutlet, egg, vegetables, and sweet, savoury sauce? (It’s teriyaki sauce + dashi.)

The most difficult part is the breading of flour, egg, panko and deep-frying.

It’s so tiresome, that a normal Japanese housewife would make shit loads of tonkatsu cutlets, eat them as is for dinner, and save the leftovers to make katsudon the next day.

But you’re a successful single lady on an upward trajectory career path. You ain’t got time to shop for pork fillet and flour and egg wash and panko and a deep-fryer.

So let me let you in a hack.

ALDI sells these 200g pre-cooked chicken schnitzels for $2.99.
Sometimes, they go on sale for $2.69.
Get four - they freeze well.

I'm going to assume you're using leftover rice from yesterday.
Nuke them in the microwave. Or use turbo mode on the rice cooker.

Make the katsudon sauce: heat up１tbsp each of soy sauce, sugar, sake, mirin, and 50ml of water or dashi.

A pinch of chicken essence or MSG won’t hurt.

Whisk 2 eggs, season with salt, set aside.

Thinly slice half an onion into half-moons.

Brown the onions in a small, 15cm-esque pan on medium-high heat, add the sauce.

Once they're foaming and onions are softened, add the chicken schnitzels. Return sauce to boil.

Pour the eggs around the schnitzels, wait for the eggs to set on the edges.

Cover for 1 minute or so, depending on how runny you like your eggs.

Prep rice in a bowl, and slide your eggy mixture on top of the rice.

Top with spring onions, cooked spinach, green herbs, pepper, chili powder / sichimi.

And there you have, a chicken katsudon to battle the rising interest rate.

What’s that? Can you use fried tofu instead to make the dish vegan?
Of course. Use haloumi cheese, falafel, spam, canned fish … anything that’s precooked.

It’s basically scrambled eggs with protein with teriyaki sauce.

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Things that are beyond my control

This is about one of my readers, Ben. His best friend Kage was diagnosed with cancer recently and had to go through amputation surgery. His gofundme campaign was a success, but if you can spare a coffee and help a greyhound, that’d be great.

Also, my neighbour will be away for 3 months from June onwards. If you’re visiting Melbourne and need a place to cook meth, let me know. Who knows, I might use it to have cooking lessons.