Nama Panko: How to Make Fresh Panko Bread Crumbs

The traditional Japanese bread crumb “Panko (パン粉)” is an essential part of Japanese “Katsu (カツ)“dishes and, in recent years, has gained popularity in many countries.

Nama Panko (生パン粉)

Panko actually comes in 2 different types.

One is “Nama Panko (生パン粉)” made from white bread “Shokupan (食パン)” whose bread crumbs are fresh with some moisture.

The other is “Kanso Panko (乾燥パン粉)” made by drying Nama Panko whose breadcrumbs are coarse and large compared to traditional Western bread crumbs.

By the way, in Japan, Kanso Panko or Dry Panko is more common than Nama Panko or Fresh Panko.

Features

Nama Panko is undried and fresh, so the breadcrumbs are voluminous, making the food coated with them more gorgeous. 

What is better, once the food is deep-fried in oil, the resulting texture becomes pleasantly crispy thanks to the moisture contained in its covering.

As a coating, Nama Panko is suitable for “Agemono (揚げ物)” deep-fried dishes whose ingredients are raw, such as Ebi Furai, Tonkatsu, and croquette,

for the food covered in Fresh Panko is slowly cooked through.

How to Make Nama Panko (Easy Recipe)

Nama Panko can easily be prepared at home. 

Based on this Japanese recipe site, you can effortlessly make it by tearing fresh white bread into bite-size chunks by hand and crushing with a blender until they become tiny pieces.

But the breadcrumbs don’t keep long, so you have to use them up as soon as possible.

(Reference Pages: Wikipedia パン粉, Macaroni, Cookpad.com )