Crispy Chicken Katsu Curry

 

I hope you can take another chicken recipe!  Yes we do eat a lot of chicken in this house. No surprise there, it is quite economical and very adaptable.  You could probably eat chicken every day of the week and have it prepared in a different  and delicious way each and every time.  You can never have too many chicken recipes to my way of thinking! 

 

I dare say I could write a book filled with chicken recipes alone!  I am always pushing the boundaries with this wonderfully versatile protein and adapting it to new flavours!

 

Because there are only two of us, I do like to buy free-range organic corn-fed chicken.  I think it tastes better, especially if you are going to use it on its own, where the taste of the chicken really matters.  Today I just used free-range as the chicken was going to be taking on a lot of other flavours. 

 

I don't remember ever really having chicken very often when I was a child.  We mostly ate red meat. I think chicken was much more expensive than other meats.  We might have a roast chicken once in a blue moon and every now and than my mother would treat us to chicken breasts that she would cook in the "Maryland" style.  Dipped in egg and cracker crumbs and fried until golden brown. We loved them! 

 

Of course they were "bone in".  I don't think I ever recall seeing boneless chicken, or at least it was not as readily available as it is to us in these modern times!  We are a lucky people. 

 

In this recipes, I have pounded boneless skinless breasts to an even thickness and then coated them with a panko breaded coating before frying them until golden brown and crisp.

 

Its important to try to get your chicken breasts to as much of an even thickness as you can so that they cook pretty evenly. You don't really want parts of it cooking through much faster than others. It is done when the juices run clear. 

 

I always start by cooking it "Presentation" side down first. This is the side that you will want facing up when you go to serve it. It is just what I was taught to do when I was at culinary school.  While it doesn't make much of a difference flavour wise, the side that gets cooked first usually ends up looking much better. This is because when you put it into the pan the meat/fish/poultry will still be raw and malleable. For this reason more of its surface area will be touching the pan. 

  

As it cooks the meat/fish/poultry will shrink up a bit and draw into itself, so that when you flip it over it won't lay as flat in the pan.  Also it will pick up some of the brown bits left in the pan from cooking the top side, so it can appear somewhat spotty.  Just a little trick of the trade here! 

 

You will love the sauce for this.  It gets drizzled over the hot crisp chicken when you go to serve it. Its a bit spicy, but not overwhelmingly so.  It is also a bit sweet from the use of ketjap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) and liquid/runny honey.  I could eat this sauce with a spoon! 

 

*Crispy Chicken Katsu Curry*

Serves 4

Printable Recipe 

 

Crisp chicken with a finger-lickingly tasty nicely spiced sweet sauce.  Serve with steamed rice.

For the Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to an even thickness

salt and freshly ground black pepper

45g plain flour (1/4 cup)

2 medium free range eggs

125g of Japanese Panko, or other fine dried bread crumbs (1 1/3 cups)

60ml of vegetable oil for frying (1/4 cup)

For the sauce:

1 TBS medium hot curry powder

1 1/2 TBS plain flour

1 TBS oil

480ml water (2 cups)

2 TBS Kejap Manis (see my recipe)

1 TBS liquid honey

To serve:

Fresh steamed white rice

4 spring onions, light green and white parts, thinly sliced

 

To make the sauce.  Whisk together the curry powder, flour and oil in a saucepan until you have a paste.  Slowly whisk in the water.  Heat, whisking constantly, until the sauce bubbles and begins to thicken.  whisk in the Kejap Manis and the honey. Taste and adjust as required, to your desired heat or sweetness.  Set aside and keep warm.

Season the pounded chicken breasts with some salt and pepper.   Place the flour on a plate.  Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl.   Place the Panko into another shallow bowl.  One at a time, dredge the chicken breasts into first the flour, then the eggs, and finally the Panko, coating them evenly and pressing the crumbs on to adhere.  Set aside on a lined baking sheet while you heat the oil.

 

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until very hot, but not smoking.   Add the chicken breasts and reduce the heat to medium.  Cook, turning once, until the crumbs are golden brown and the chicken feels firm when pressed in the centres, about four minutes per side.   Adjust the heat as needed so that the crumbs don't burn.  Transfer to a cutting board.

 

Place a portion of steamed rice in each of four bowls. Slice each breast across the grain into wide strips.  Slide a knife under the strips and transfer to the top of the hot rice.  Drizzle some of the sauce over each and sprinkle with the sliced spring onions.  Serve immediately and pass any remaining sauce at the table.

 

I always cook extra chicken when I am doing the chicken part of recipes like this.  I then freeze them individually and then wrap them up individually and pop them into a freezer container, ready to bring out whenever I want to make a quick supper.  I find that they come in they come in very handy!  Bon Appetit! 

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