When you say Japanese cuisine, most people will think of sushi or ramen. There are so many more delicious dishes and sushi is not commonly prepared at home, and is usually something you’d go out for. Japanese curries are commonly made at home. You can even buy the easy sauce, but we’re gonna do it properly here. This is my recipe for chicken katsu curry.
My son Tom loves a variety of Asian cultures. Specifically South Korean and Japanese. So whenever I make a dish from either of those countries his face just lights up and he is so insanely happy. It doesn’t hurt that everyone else thinks it’s super tasty too.
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While everybody in the rest of the world is eating ramen, sushi, sashimi or even sukiyaki most people in Japan will eat curry more often. The most popular version of Japanese curry is a katsu (literally cutlet). The cutlet is made from flattened panko-breaded pork or chicken.
Curries in Japan date back to the late 1800s. Legend has it that an English sailor shipwrecked and was picked up by a Japanese fishing boat. With him, he had curry powder and that’s how the curry powder was introduced in Japan.
The nonmythical version is probably more than it was introduced by the British navy or British traders. So while the spices in curry originate in the Indian subcontinent, it’s really the British version of curry that spread to Japan. That also explains why the Japanese curry isn’t spicy, but more comforting in taste.
What makes panko special in this Chicken Katsu Curry recipe?
When making katsu there are a couple of things at must be observed. The cutlets need to be made from pork or chicken. They need to be flattened so that the cooking time is relatively equal for the entire piece of meat Lastly, the cutlet must be coasted in panko breadcrumbs before it is fried.
In western cooking, breadcrumbs are not unknown. In Denmark, we have a pork/veal patty which some people will bread or add breadcrumbs to the patty. Wiener Schnitzel (literally Viennese cutlet) is a cousin of the katsu, but it is made from veal and coated in regular breadcrumbs.
The panko breadcrumbs are made from a special bread which has is prepared by passing electricity through the bread instead of baking. This method was invented by the Japanese during World War II when ovens weren’t available for the army cooks.
It’s grated at an angle instead of just crushed willy-nilly, so the individual panko breadcrumbs are longer than normal breadcrumbs.
Because of this, panko is both crunchier and lighter than regular breadcrumbs, and they resist soaking up fats much better than regular breadcrumbs. That means a crunchier texture and less chance of a soggy breading. If you like crunchy food, panko is worth its weight in gold. Fortunately, it’s much cheaper than that.
The choices I’ve made in this Chicken Katsu Curry recipe
Traditionally the curry sauce is made using a roux. A roux is very commonly used in French cuisine where the fat in the roux is butter (Mmmh… Butter!), but really a roux is just a mixture of equal weights of fat and wheat flour, which is then roasted in a pan. The roux acts as a thickening agent.
I’ve chosen to thicken the sauce with corn starch, which makes for a lighter but equally delicious sauce. The good thing about corn starch is that, unlike using flour, it doesn’t have to be cooked out. Once it’s thick, you’re good to go.
I’ve chosen to serve this dish with a Japanese-inspired salad. It’s not traditional in any sense of the word, but I just like to get a bit of crunch and acid to juxtapose the thick, umami-rich, and sweet sauce. It’s a good combo.
I think this is a dish that will make most people happy, kids or adults alike. Give it a go, it’s super easy to make.
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This is my recipe for chicken katsu curry. I hope you will try to make it. If you make this recipe and post it to Instagram, please tag med as @foodgeek.dk so I can see it. That will make me very happy.
