Have you ever been to Wagamama? If you have, you may well have tried their very popular dish, Chicken Katsu Curry. Crispy, breaded chicken with a flavourful curry sauce and fluffy rice. It’s a cracking dish, and here’s my make-at-home version.
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The idea behind Chicken Katsu Curry is simple (and has mirrors in many other regional dishes around the world) – a breadcrumbed and fried (or baked) meat topped with a properly delicious sauce.
I once thought that bread crumbing meat like this was tricky. How do you make sure the outside is golden and crisp, but not overdone? How do you make sure that the chicken is cooked all the way through? In actual fact, it’s very straightforward. If you bash the chicken breasts flat, they need less cooking – meaning that it’s easy to cook them evenly. Here, I fried them to start with to give them that golden colour, then popped them in the oven to cook through. Easy peasy!
Just a warning before we jump into the recipe – you’re going to want to drink that curry sauce!
Chicken Katsu Curry – The Ingredients
- Vegetable oil – for the frying. You could also use butter.
- Onion – use one medium/large white or yellow onion.
- Garlic – use more if you’re a big garlic fan, up to 5 cloves.
- Turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, curry powder – a killer mix to make a delicious katsu curry sauce.
- Plain flour – to thicken the sauce.
- Coconut milk – I’d recommend using full fat – it’s more flavourful (and better value, the reduced fat stuff is just watered down anyway).
- Tomato puree – to give the sauce that colour and a rich, sweet flavour.
- Chicken breast – try to find two that are as similar in size as possible – that way, they’ll cook in the same amount of time.
- Eggs – to stick the breadcrumbs to the chicken.
- Panko breadcrumbs – I recommend panko over any other type of breadcrumbs. They go super crisp.
- Rice – a big pile of fluffy white rice is perfect.
Cooking the Katsu Curry
The hardest bit about this recipe is cooking the chicken, but follow those instructions in the recipe and it’ll be great. Here are some other tips;
- You could whizz the sauce smooth in a food processor to get a proper Wagamama texture.
- If your sauce goes lumpy after you add the coconut milk, a whisk is your friend. Whisk it well – then the flour will combine more easily with the sauce.
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Chicken Katsu Curry
Save This RecipeIngredients
- 4 tbsps vegetable oil
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsps curry powder
- 60 g plain flour
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 2 tbsps tomato puree
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 eggs
- 100 g panko breadcrumbs
- 250 g cooked rice to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220 degrees celsius.
- Start by making the curry sauce. Chop the onion, and put in a large saucepan with 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil. Cook gently for 5 minutes, then add the chopped garlic and all of the spices. Stir well. Add 1 tbsp of the plain flour, stir, then add the coconut milk and tomato puree. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt if required.
- For the chicken, place the breasts between a piece of clingfilm and bash with a rolling pin to squash a little. Take 3 dishes. Pour the remaining flour into the first, break the eggs into the second and beat them, pour the panko breadcrumbs into the third.
- Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan. Coat the chicken breasts first in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Add to the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden. Transfer to a baking tray and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.
- To serve, slice the chicken and serve with the curry sauce poured over the top, and a pile of rice on the side. Enjoy it!
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