Hey cutie! How are you? I had the most AMAZING weekend last weekend! I managed to film my himekaji haul (that I’ve wanted to do for so long) and I also joined a virtual cooking class with Hyper Japan and Sozai Cooking School where we cooked Katsu curry together using a curry block from S&B. I went for chicken but Kinu Yukawa, the chef, also showed me how to do a vegan recipe so I will also share that down below, too. I also decided to dress up a little bit for it and… I felt really cute haha. Right, let’s start cooking!
I wanna share with you the virtual party first but if you just want to know how to cook Katsu curry then please scroll down below!
The S&B Virtual Katsu Curry Party
Sooo the event itself was amazing. I just felt so excited to be cooking Japanese recipes again! I’ve cooked a Katsu Curry in the past but cooked the chicken in the oven, so I was a little bit scared when I saw that we had to deep fry it (not going to lie – I did squeal and run away when the oil started spitting at me haha). I was joined by a few other people and we did it all on Zoom! We also learnt that curry was introduced to Japan in the 1860s when India was under colonial rule by the British Empire. And it’s been a staple ever since!
I was really happy that Chef Kinu Yukawa also showed us how to cook it for our vegan friends and to be honest, it’s actually quite easy! Plus you don’t have to worry about undercooking any meat. I really want to try cooking with sweet potato next time… For this virtual party I cooked chicken Katsu with onions, carrots and potatoes mixed in with the curry sauce, and then a bowl of rice.
The Recipes
Btw… I grabbed these recipes from Sozai Cooking School. Luckily I did because I have the memory of a goldfish. But I wrote the vegan recipe from memory but unfortunately I don’t know the measurements so…. I don’t know how good it’ll be.
For the Curry
Ingredients
- S&B’s Curry Sauce Mix Roux 100g
- Potatoes 100g, peeled and cut into bite sizes
- Carrots 100g, peeled and cut into 1 bite sizes
- Onions 200g, peeled and thinly sliced
- Water 720ml
- Butter 1 tbsp *optional
- Red wine 50ml *optional
Method
- In a large pot, sauté the onions oil over medium heat. Once the onions are lightly golden then add the carrots & potatoes and sauté for a few minutes.
- Add 720ml hot water and bring it to a boil. Then turn heat to low and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Turn off heat and add the curry roux (cut into small pieces), red wine (optional) and butter (optional). Stir gently until the curry roux is fully melted. Turn the heat on and simmer on low for a few minutes and bring it to a boil.
*Adjust the curry’s thickness to taste if necessary. There will be a slight difference in the curry’s thickness due to the moisture from the vegetables.Add a little hot water and dilute to taste then bring it to a boil again.
For the Chicken Katsu
Serves 2
Ingredients
- Chicken thigh or chicken breast, deboned
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 egg
- 1 cup Panko
- Vegetable oil 500ml approx for deep frying
Method
- Place the flour, egg, and panko in 3 separate bowls. This will be the coating batter for the Katsu.
- Coat the meat/vegetable in the following order: Flour > beaten egg > panko
- Place the vegetable oil in a heavy-based pan and heat the oil to 170C degrees over high heat. Drop a few breadcrumbs into the oil to check the temperature. If the panko sinks slightly then float to the surface with a sizzle the oil is ready for frying.
- Reduce the heat to medium to maintain the temperature. Deep-fry the Katsu for a few minutes until the panko is golden brown.
- Slice the Katsu into bite sizes then place the Katsu over a bed of cooked rice. Pour the curry over generously. Serve hot and dive into your Katsu Curry!
A lil’ extra…
Vegan & Vegetarian Katsu
Serves 2
So the curry sauce will be the same, but the way you do the Katsu will be slightly different! If you’re vegetarian, you can still use flour, egg and panko. But for the vegan version, you can mix flour and water to create a starch which will replace the egg, but you will still need flour (again) and panko.
Ingredients
- 2 Sliced sweet potato, courgette, aubergine or pumpkin
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 egg OR plain flour mixed with water to create starch
- 1 cup Panko
- Vegetable oil 500ml approx for deep frying
Method
- Cook your curry as mentioned above.
- Cut your vegetable (I’m going to say pumpkin for now so that it’s easier) into medium/thin slices.
- Coat the pumpkin into the flour, then egg, then panko. If you’re doing the vegan version, coat it in flour, then the flour/water mixture, and then panko.
- Place the vegetable oil in a heavy-based pan and heat the oil to 170C degrees over high heat. Drop a few breadcrumbs into the oil to check the temperature. If the panko sinks slightly then float to the surface with a sizzle the oil is ready for frying.
- Reduce the heat to medium to maintain the temperature. Deep-fry the Katsu for a few minutes until the panko is golden brown.
- Slice the Katsu into bite sizes then place the Katsu over a bed of cooked rice. Pour the curry over generously. Serve hot and dive into your Katsu Curry!
And that’s all for today!
Writing up this post actually makes me more excited to cook more Japanese dishes in future. I used to do it quite a lot when I was at uni but for some reason we just stopped doing them… Plus, my hubby was really impressed with my Katsu curry (thank you Yukawa!) so I really want to cook it for him again.
Have you cooked Katsu curry before? What do you usually cook it with?
Love,
Lizzie xx