Chicken Katsu Curry

Spicy curry sauce and crunchy crispy chicken all served with sticky rice - let’s just say it hits the spot - addictive! Feel free to bulk up the veg content by serving with any steamed veg of choice, I served with broccoli. Full recipe below x

Serves: 4

• 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

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.