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Chicken Katsu Curry

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
The cooking procedure described below is intimidatingly long, I know. But since curry sauce is even tastier after sitting in the fridge overnight and reheated, you may cook it a day ahead. Prep the chicken katsu and, just before you start frying, reheat the curry sauce over low heat. Chicken and sauce will be ready, and hot, at the same time. 
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 4 people
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Curry roux

  • ¼ cup butter
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon chili flakes
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Curry sauce

  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 2 small onions peeled and thinly sliced
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
  • 1 medium carrot peeled and cut into half-inch cubes
  • 2 small potatoes peeled and cut into half-inch cubes
  • 3 cups chicken bone broth
  • 1 apple peeled and cored

Chicken katsu

To serve

Instructions
 

Make the curry roux

  • In a sauce pan, melt the butter.
  • Stir in the flour, all at once, until the mixture is smooth.
  • Cook the roux over medium-low heat, with occasionally stirring, until lightly browned.
  • Off the heat, stir in the curry powder, chili flakes, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup and honey. Set aside.

Make the curry sauce

  • In a wok, heat the cooking oil.
  • Soften the onion slices with a little salt and pepper over medium heat.
  • Add the garlic and ginger. Sprinkle in a bit more salt and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring often, for a minute or two.
    Sauteeing spices for Japanese chicken curry
  • Throw in the carrot and potato cubes, and cook with occasional stirring for a minute.
  • Pour in the broth.
  • Grate the apple dirctly into the pan and stir.
  • Cover the pan and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until both the carrot and potato cubes are cooked through.
  • Add the roux, a heaping tablespoonful at a time and stirring after each addition. When all of the roux has been added, simmer curry for another 10 minutes.
  • Taste the curry sauce and adjust the seasonings, as needed.

Fry the chicken

  • Take a large piece of cling wrap. Place a chicken on one side and fold over the other half. If you have a very large of cling wrap, you can place more chicken pieces.
  • Pound the chicken until the meat is half an inch in thickness. It is important for the thickness to be uniform for even cooking. And the chicken meat shouldn’t be too thick to avoid a raw center and a burnt coating.
  • Lay the chicken pieces flat and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  • Place the flour, beaten egg and panko in three shallow bowls.
  • Dredge each chicken thigh in flour; shake off the excess.
  • Dip each floured chicken thigh in the beaten egg, making sure that every inch of the surface is coated with egg.
  • Roll each chicken fillet in panko. Make sure that the panko coating is even.
  • Heat enough cooking oil so that it is at least an inch and a half deep. The ideal frying temperature is 145C (350F) to avoid burnt breading and raw meat.
  • Fry the chicken fillets, in batches if your frying pan is not large enough to hold them in a single layer. Check the underside after about three minutes. When the underside is golden brown, flip the chicken thighs over to brown the opposite side.

Assemble the chicken katsu curry

  • Ladle rice into four shallow bowls.
  • Cut the chicken katsu into strips and arrange over the rice.
  • Scoop curry sauce with the vegetables around the rice.
  • Drizzle cream over the curry sauce.
  • Sprinkle the chicken katsu curry with finely sliced scallions and serve.
Keyword Curry, Katsu