Chicken Katsu Curry recipe – with vegan options

Katsu curry is a popular dinner-time staple in the Land of the Rising Sun and is quickly becoming very popular in the UK too. The curry has a delightfully complex flavour with a mild heat that makes it accessible for anyone to try and a great gateway into the delicious world of Japanese cuisine.

You can make your own Katsu style curry in your own kitchen with a few easily procured ingredients and this quick, simple recipe. I personally love katsu curry and even like to make bulk amounts and freeze it for later. My culinary skills are barely enough to bake a potato, but even I’ve made katsu at home and been blown away by how tasty it turned out.

You can even make katsu completely vegan-friendly with a few creative tweaks. We’ve listed some alternatives in the ingredients list below if you fancy trying katsu meat-free.

Serves 4

What you’ll need:

4x portions of chicken breast (or a block of tofu)

800ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

2x medium carrots

2x medium onions

4x garlic cloves

1x tbsp honey/sweetener (or agave syrup)

2x tbsp soy sauce

3x tbsp. plain flour plus some extra for breading the chicken

4x teaspoons curry powder

½ tsp. garam masala

1x large beaten egg (or egg replacer)

2x tbsp. cooking oil

150g panko breadcrumbs/breadcrumb of choice

Jasmine rice to serve

Optional:

Hand blender

Instructions:

  1. To prep, wrap up your chicken breasts in cling film and flatten them out using a rolling pin or a skillet. Remove the cling film from the chicken then place to one side. Next, chop your carrots, onions and garlic cloves.
  2. Heat up your oil in a saucepan or pan and start frying up your onion and carrot. Cook for around 5-10 minutes and then add your garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
  3. Next, stir in the chicken stock, soy sauce, curry powder, 3 tbsp of plain flour and your honey/sweetener of choice. Slowly bring all of this to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce thickens. Then, stir in the garam masala and take a hand blender to the sauce until you get the desired smoothness.
  4. While the sauce simmers, preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180 C. Bread the chicken breasts by dipping them in plain flour, then in the beaten egg and finally in your panko breadcrumbs. Place the chicken breasts on a baking tray with a bit of cooking oil dashed or sprayed on top and then cook for 20-25 minutes or until they’re golden brown and fully cooked through. If you’re using tofu instead of chicken, the process is the same except your tofu should be cut into cubes beforehand and then cooked on each side in a frying pan – not in an oven.
  5. Once the chicken is cooked, slice it up into small diagonal chunks and place on a bed of freshly cooked fragrant Jasmine rice. Pour over the katsu curry sauce and serve. Enjoy!

Did you try out this recipe? Have you tried making your own vegan takes on classic Japanese food? Let us know down below in the comments.

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