Japanese Food Journal: homemade eel patties

For my first homecooked meal in Japan, I wanted to make something that was vaguely Japanese and definitely not complicated. I settled on eel patties, a recipe I found in the Japanese cookbook I brought with me. It suggested serving them as burgers, but I couldn't find hamburger buns in the grocery store, so I decided to just make them patties instead.

I've found that Japanese respond to my love for in eel in two ways: they're shocked that I love it or they're shocked that most Americans don't eat it. One student was even horrified when I said that eel is not readily found in American grocery stores. She simply couldn't believe it. Another student was thoroughly amused that I liked it so much that I wanted to cook with it. Overall, though every Japanese I've met is thrilled that I'm embracing Japanese food. One of my kids' classes saw me eating onigiri (a riceball) today, and it was apparently the most amazing thing they've ever seen, the idea that an American would willingly eat such a thing.

Anyway, back to my home-cooked Japanese meal. It was all quite simple: peel, chop, and cook the eel just briefly. Eel comes prepared, already grilled and flavored, so I'm not having to cook it for more than a couple of minutes. Then, mix the eel with a beaten egg and enough panko to form into patties. I was afraid I'd used too much panko, but the combination turned out to be perfect. In a skillet, I cooked the patties in some olive oil, just enough to get them crispy and crunchy on the outside.

To serve: I laid out a bed of cabbage and squirted mayo over top it. Then I placed the eel patties on top, in a triangle. I had one beautiful tomato that cost half a fortune but was well worth it because it was so juicy and yummy. To finish, I covered the eel patties with tonkatsu sauce. And voila! I cook once again!

Don't know when I'll do it again though. My kitchen has zero counterspace, and that makes it exceedingly difficult to do any kind of prep work. I'll definitely make the eel patties again soon because I still have plenty of panko and cabbage left (though I might make okonomiyaki with the cabbage before I get to the patties again). But cooking is going to be a major chore because I have so little space to work in. I'm going to keep things simple at first (pasta, perhaps, since that requires little prep), and if I find I can manage the space better, I'll continue trying new things.

Until then, I have plenty of food to choose from outside the apartment!