The Chicken Katsu is a traditional Japanese cuisine. It is always served with curry rice and sided with miso soup. I am not Japanese, however, I am a real fan of Japanese food haha;)

I used the chicken breast to make the chicken katsu as the chicken breast is the tenderest chicken meat without bones, and therefore it is easy to fry and cut. Making the chicken katsu is easy, using the breadcrumbs, flour, and egg (slightly beaten). Also, instead of using the plain flour, I always prefer to use the tempera flour which is a kind of special flour making the Japanese tempera, because flavors have been added in the flour and you don’t really need to adjust the flavor of the chicken katsu. You can buy the tempera flour from most of those Asian grocery shops. Before frying the chicken katsu, covering the chicken breast with the tempera flour, and then beaten egg mixture, and finally with breadcrumbs.

For the curry rice, I used the Japanese curry which is less spicy and more cream flavor in it. When you talk about curry, it is an ingredient originated from India. And Indian curry has a very heavy flavor of Indian spices and herbs, such as hot chillies and curry leaves. And curry is introduced to the South-East Asian at 17th century, and at that time, curry gained its popularity in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Thai curry is separated into two categories, the red curry and the green curry. The red curry has more spicy flavor in it whereas the green curry is more plain in flavor. But both Thai style curries have a strong flavor of the lemongrass. Different from curries of the South-East Asia, curry is introduced to Japan and Korea during the war. European colonists brought the Indian curry into East Asia. But since East Asian countries have a long standing cultures, they adopted the original ingredients of the Indian curry and then adjusted the flavor according to their own preferences. Therefore, East Asian curries are a mixed flavor of western cuisines (creamy flavor), Indian curry (a little bit spicy), and the East Asian cuisines (less heavy flavors of herbs and spices). Japanese curry is especially creamy compare to Korean curry. Unfortunately, curry wasn’t accepted by Chinese people as the 5000 years Chinese culture made Chinese people has a deep confidence on their own food and even now, it is hardly to have a foreign cuisine be really successfully introduced to China (even Japanese food and Korean food). So all in all, if you like creamy curries, Japanese curry and Korean curry is the best choice. And I used the Japanese curry making this curry rice cause I am a person who loves everything with creamy flavor in it haha;)  Chicken Katsu with curry rice

Ingredients (For serving of 2)

For the Chicken Katsu

• 2 chicken breasts
• 80g panko breadcrumbs
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 egg (slightly beaten)
• Cooking oil (for deep-frying)

For the curry rice

• curry sauce: 4-5 cubes japanese curry
• 1 large onion
• 1 large potato
• 1 carrot
• 800ml chicken stock (here’s a funny story – I started cook for my little puppy 3 months ago after once he suffered vomiting problems. I cook for him with boiled chicken mixed with vegetables and rice, and sometimes with sardine or salmon cans. So there’s plenty of chicken stock left to me and my housemates and sometimes we have to waste it because it’s just too much and we can’t use it all! haha…so I now have to replace water with chicken stock when cooking (even when I cook rice!) and dishes I made were incredibly delicious with chicken stock. So thanks Bubble! haha…)
•  400g Japanese rice

Instructions:

1. Start by cutting the onion, potato and carrot into small chunks before adding them to a large pan half filled with chicken stock.
2. Bring the water to boil and then simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. It is a good idea to start cooking rice now.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add 4-5 blocks of curry roux to the pot with vegetables. Turn on the heat to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Keep mixing until the curry sauce is thick and smooth.

   

4. While the curry is infusing, season your chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper before covering with flour first and then raw egg, then breadcrumbs.

   

5. Heat up the oil in a separate saucepan to 180°C and carefully lower the cutlets into the oil and cook them for a few minutes on both sides until they become a golden brown colour.
6. Slice the cooked chicken katsu into strips and lay over a bed of rice before adding the curry sauce. Garnish with fukujinzuke pickled radish, and maybe as personal preferences a boiled egg.
7. I also cooked the miso soup as a side with the Chicken Katsu. In making the miso soup, simply add water and a small piece of kelp into a pot, heat it to boil; then add 2 spoon of white miso paste and mix well; finally add some Tofu chunks into the soup
8. Enjoy;)