Katsukarē or as we tend to refer to it over here in the UK Katsu curry is by short definition a piece of meat (typically in Japan a pork cutlet (Tonkatsu)) covered in Panko breadcrumbs and then fried and served along side a curry sauce that isn’t very spicy hot but packs loads of spice flavour. This dish is mega comfort food and one of the best meals for a lazy day teatime or a tasty treat on week night due to the speed of it.

Enjoy creating your own version of this super easy tasty dish with my recipe below.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken:

-Chicken breast without skin or bone

-Panko breadcrumbs

-1 egg

-3 tsp of rice flour

Sauce:

-1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

-1 tsp ground cumin

-4 green cardamon pods

-1 tsp fennel seeds

-1 tsp garam masala

-2 tsp veg oil

-1 onion

-Knob of root ginger

-1 tsp tomato puree

-1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

-200ml chicken stock

-1 tsp sugar

-pinch of salt

EQUIPMENT:

• Food Processor
• Rolling Pin
• Frying pan/or deep fat fryer
• Bowls

METHOD:

To start take the chicken breasts place them in a sandwich bags or cover with cling film and beat with the rolling pin until flattened out, just a note don’t go all Mike Tyson on them, especially don’t take a bite out either, they aren’t ready you eager beaver.

Now the chicken is flattened out get the bowls and place in them separately the flour, egg and Panko breadcrumbs, picking up the chicken breast coat it first in the flour, then the egg and finish in the breadcrumbs getting an even coating. These are then ready to be fried now dependent on what you are using get your oil to about 180 (if in the frying pan use enough oil to fill about 2cm off the base) place the chicken in the oils and cook on either side for 4-5mins or until golden brown and cooked through, use a probe if you aren’t sure it should be 75 degrees C or 165 F.

Whilst that’s cooking get another pan and fry off the cardamon pods, fennel seeds and ginger, put these in the blender and blitz with the other ingredients until a smooth consistency is achieved (alternatively buy gram masala and use that). Put these back in the pan and heat up until piping hot.

By this time the chicken should be done and ready to plate. In this i have not specified a cooking method for your sides purely because some people opt for different variations on the rice (if you are in a rush or simply cant’t be arsed a pack of microwave packet rice is great) choose what you feel is the right type of rice for you, i will always choose a sticky Japanese rice (or a Thai rice). Another good accompaniment is some pickled veg to cut through the curry in this i have used pickled red cabbage and cucumber. Anyway, that is that and i hope you enjoy happy katsuing!