Chicken Katsu Curry-style crispy chicken with curry sauce

Ingredients

Chicken

• 4 chicken breasts (about 150 g each), butterflied
• Salt and pepper
• 50 g plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 150 g panko breadcrumbs
• Oil for shallow frying

Japanese curry

• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 inch ginger
• 600 ml chicken stock
• 1 block Japanese curry roux (about 100 g, e.g. S&B Golden Curry)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey

To serve

• 300 g steamed white rice
• 4 tbsp shredded cabbage
• Pickled red ginger

Method

1. Curry base. Sauté onion + carrot + garlic + ginger 5 minutes. Add stock, soy, honey. Simmer 15 minutes until veg is soft. Stir in the curry roux block until dissolved. Simmer 5 minutes more.
2. Prep chicken. Season and butterfly the chicken breasts so they’re even thickness.
3. Dredge. Coat in flour, dip in egg, then press into panko. Rest 5 minutes.
4. Fry. Heat 1 cm oil in a pan to 170°C. Fry chicken 4 minutes per side until golden and cooked through.
5. Rest. Remove and rest 3 minutes.
6. Slice. Cut into strips.
7. Serve. With rice, curry sauce (in a small jug or ladled over), shredded cabbage, pickled ginger.

Tips

• Dredge in flour, then egg, then panko. In that order.
• S&B golden curry roux blocks are the move. Makes the sauce foolproof.
• Don’t skip the rest between fry and slice. Lock in the juices.