Healthier Chicken Katsu Curry
Now listen, I eat Chicken Katsu Curry at the very least, once a month! It’s quick, it’s easy, filling and the effort to reward ratio in this is just ridiculous. 30 minutes of work will last me all week, and it carries over really well for the folks who like a good meal prep meal.
The twist to todays dish is in both the preparation along with the actual ingredients. I think I found the optimal blend so that you’re not sacrificing flavour for health whatsoever!
It’s traditionally served with rice, but I opted for the healthier cauliflower rice (Green Giant sponsor me), which you can find in the freezer aisle of your grocery store, OR if you fancy… just throw a whole head of cauliflower in the food processor. Boom.
It’s got virtually no carbs, and you can season it how you like so that it not only tastes great but is super duper filling.
Cauliflower rice
Fun fact about Curry and Japans relationship, curry itself was introduced to Japan in like the 1800’s by the British Navy. If you’re familiar with what colonization was looking like at that time, India was a colony of the Brits back then.
Anglo-Indian officers of the Royal Navy brought the spice mix called curry powder to Japan and it was initially considered a foreign dish (yōshoku) and was served in European-style restaurants. Over time, curry gained popularity and had it’s little tweaks and adaptations to suit Japanese tastes. And boom, couple decades later Japanese curry, known as "kare raisu" (カレーライス) in Japanese, became a staple of their cuisine and developed its own unique taste.
In Japanese language and culture, "katsu" (カツ) typically refers to a breaded and deep-fried cutlet of meat, such as chicken or pork. But since we’re trying to shed some pounds for the coming winter, we’re gonna skip that.
Your air fryer is your best friend when it comes to looking for quick, crispiness without falling for the temptation of the deep fryer you’ve got sitting in the corner of your kitchen. With a little TLC you can get the same result without all the added oil.
Now without further adieu, here’s the recipe:
Ingredient Breakdown Chicken Katsu Curry :
1 packet of S&B Golden Curry mix (4 cubes)
1 large onion (finely diced)
1 carrot (rough chop)
Half a head of garlic (or more)
1 large russet potato or handful of fingerlings (rough chop)
700ml - 900ml of stock or water
1 tsp ginger
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs garam masala
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 chicken bouillon cube
Salt/Pepper/MSG to taste
Chicken:
Chicken breast or cutlets cut thinly or pounded to 1/2 inch
1/3 cup All Purpose Flour
1/3 cup Corn Starch (or potato starch)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Cauliflower rice
10 oz cauliflower
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp lime juice (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Curry Mix Instructions:
1) Prep your vegetables of choice, and have everything ready to go. Mince your onions, and ginger, slice your garlic into thin pieces, and roughly chop up your potatoes and carrots into bite size pieces. Doesn’t have to be perfect
2)Sweat out some onions in a medium sized pot with some neutral oil on medium heat.
3) Once your onions get some colour you can introduce your tomato paste, garlic, ginger, and sliced veggies of choice
4) Add you spices (salt, pepper, chilli flakes, and garam masala) and mix well. let everything get nice and incorporated and let it go for 1-2 minutes
5) Cover the mixture with your water/stock of choice, i used a mix of about half chicken stock and half water.
6)Add your chicken bouillon cube, and curry mix. You’re going to have to stir for a while and make sure your curry mix is fully incorporated and isn’t all clumpy. Now let it come up to a boil, and drop to a medium-low heat for a while. You’ll know you’re ready when you can run your finger through your spoon and can still see the thick line hold up. Should take about 30 minutes
Chicken Instructions:
1) This should be the easier step, get your chicken breast or cutlets, and if they aren’t already pound them to about 1/2 inch uniform thickness.
2) Season how you like, I went with paprika, garlic powder, onion power, curry powder, lemon pepper, salt, pepper, MSG. But honestly there’s no going wrong here and season however you’re used to.
3) Mix together equal parts all purpose flour and cornstarch, and lay out your breading station. Fully coat your chicken in the flour mixture until there’s no spots, and quickly dip it into your egg, and transfer to your panko station. This should be done relatively quickly, and make sure there’s no empty spots once you’re finished
4) Transfer into your airfryer and spray the top surface of your chicken with some cooking spray.
5) Airfry for 20 minutes, at 250F , making sure you flip mid way through and respray your chicken.
Cauliflower Rice
1) This is foolproof. In a non-stick pan, add your frozen or fresh cauliflower rice, and you’re just heating through for ~5 minutes.
2) Season with your garlic powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. I like to also add a squeeze of some lime juice personally to brighten it up.
3) Once warmed through you’re ready to plate and serve.
Here’s the full video of this recipe :)
