Panko (pronounced PAHN-koh) refers to:
a type of Japanese bread crumbs
an African music style
a video game
a barcelona-based DJ
a surname
a Korean clothing trading company
a community in Nigeria
Panko as Japanese bread crumbs
Panko is a type of bread crumb used to coat fried foods in Japanese cuisine. Larger, coarser, flakier, and lighter than Western bread crumbs, panko creates rather a crunchy crust around the fried food. Panko browns well, and tends to not get soggy.
Panko is made from a yeast-raised bread dough
(wheat flour, dextrose, soybean oil, palm oil, yeast, salt), and is baked in a microwave or with electrical resistance so as to have little to no crust. As far as bread crumbs go, panko has an elongated shape, and derives its crisp and tender texture from its a porous structure.
Panko can be bought white or tan; white panko made with the crust removed, and tan made from the whole loaf. Outside of Asia, Panko can be purchased in Asian food markets.
Sometimes, panko is fried with honey, but is otherwise generally not seasoned. Good uses for panko include coating casseroles, chicken cutlets, and seafood. Recently, I ate panko-coated goat cheese with a ginger pear chutney. Not bad at all, thank you very much.
Panko as an African music style
Based originally on an upbeat dance rhythm from Eastern Nigeria, Panko was modernized and updated by a wide range of traditional and popular Nigerian musicians until it became a broadly embraced genre of pop music.
It is a mix of Nigerian highlife, Cameroonian ashiko, Zairean rumba, Congo, and makossa.
The most famous Panko musician is the late Prince Nico Mbarga who, along with Rocafil Jazz, created the 1976 hit Sweet Mother, which sold over 13 million copies.
PanKo as a video game
PanKo is a top-down perspective telephone game on the ExEn platform, where the player controls a Panda or a Koala (thence the name) to push crates around in order to solve a puzzle. The game is equiped with a level-editor so that players can create and save up to three of their own levels.
Panko as a barcelona-based DJ
DJ Panko is a DJ in the musical group, Ojos de Brujo. He does scratching, sampling, guitar, and percussion. He founded the groups Amalgama and Fula, and has worked with Rosario Flores, Ketama, and Raimundo Amador.
If anyone has anything to add for the following, it would be quite welcome. Do message me.
Panko as a surname
Panko as a community in Nigeria
Panko as a Korean clothing trading company