main-meals

Chicken Katsu Curry

October 25

In recent years, Ireland has become known as a serious food destination but as a nation who also knows how to have a good time we still have a few dirty food secrets. Take, for example, the 3-in-1 – an infamous concoction of curry sauce, chips and fried rice – a favourite of late-night Dublin. While I’m not comparing this katsu curry to the 3-in-1, it does have similar qualities: spicy curry sauce and crispy chicken all served with sticky rice. Let’s just say it hits the spot, late night or not.

Serves 4
45 mins

Method

1. To make the sauce, heat the tablespoon of oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the onion and fry for 6 minutes before stirring in the garlic and ginger, frying for a further 1–2 minutes. Sprinkle in the curry powder, turmeric, chilli powder and tomato purée and stir to coat the vegetables.
2. Pour in the chicken stock alongside the coconut milk and bring to a steady simmer. Cook for 15 minutes and then add rice wine vinegar, honey and soy sauce. Cook for a further 3 minutes until the sauce has thickened and then blitz until smooth with a hand-held stick blender.
3. Put the chicken breasts on a chopping board, place a piece of parchment paper on top and, using a rolling pin, bash the breasts to thin them to a thickness of about 2 – 3cm/ 3/4 inch - 1 inch.
4. Heat the remaining oil in a large high sided frying pan over a medium-high heat. Whisk together the egg and soy sauce in a wide bowl and put the breadcrumbs & flour in separate bowls also. Remove the parchment paper and dip each breast in the seasoned flour, then in the egg mixture and finally, the panko breadcrumbs.
5. Fry the crumbed chicken in the oil for 5–6 minutes until golden brown on either side and cooked all the way through. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper.
6. Slice the chicken and serve with the cooked sticky rice, spring onions, a generous amount of curry sauce and any extra steamed veggies you like.

4 chicken breasts

2/3 cup sunflower oil

1 large free-range egg, beaten

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 cup Japanese panko breadcrumbs

7 tbsp flour, seasoned

1 1/2 cups sticky rice, cooked, to serve

6 spring onions, thinly sliced, to serve

For the curry sauce:

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, very finely chopped

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

1⁄4 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp tomato purée

2 cups chicken stock

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp soy sauce

4 chicken breasts

150ml sunflower oil

1 large free-range egg, beaten

1 tbsp soy sauce

100g Japanese panko breadcrumbs

100g flour, seasoned

300g sticky rice, cooked, to serve

6 spring onions, thinly sliced, to serve

For the curry sauce:

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, very finely chopped

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

1⁄4 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp tomato purée

500ml chicken stock

200ml coconut milk

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp soy sauce

You'll Need

Frying pan

Stick blender

Rolling pin

If you liked this

This is very similar to a Thai green curry but it’s a lot lighter in terms of spices, sticking mainly with the fresh ingredients like ginger and lemongrass. I use Kaffir lime leaves here, which some supermarkets carry in the herb section, Asian markets are also bound to have them. Improvise with finely grated zest of lime. If you haven’t used lemongrass before it’s a fantastic little ingredient which is responsible for giving this dish that wonderful light and fragrant flavour. To prepare, slice off the woody ends and the root, you should be left with about 2-3 inches. If you don’t have a hand blender, just chop the paste ingredients until they’re as fine as you can get them.

main-meals
→

Healthy Singapore Noodles

February 14

Singapore noodles are a standard Chinese restaurant dish, but making them at home is so easy and it also means you can monitor what’s going in to them, adding whatever healthy vegetables you feel like. The addition of curry powder to this dish not only brings a new flavour to it, but it coats the noodles and gives a great texture to every bite.

main-meals
→

One Pan Singapore Noodles

October 07

After a recent stay in a house with a limited kitchen, my love for one-pan dishes has grown astronomically. This dish is a super quick one too – vermicelli rice noodles come alive with only a brief lick of boiling stock so there’s no faffing about. Add to this a heap of tender, stir-fried vegetables and you’re week is off to a really healthy and wholesome start. Recipe from my new book Eat.Live.Go which can be ordered here.

main-meals

Chicken Katsu Curry

October 25

Method

Ingredients

You'll Need

If you liked this

You may also like

main-meals

Fragrant Thai Chicken Stew

April 24

main-meals

Healthy Singapore Noodles

February 14

main-meals

One Pan Singapore Noodles

October 07