Chicken katsu curry
50 min · 50 g protein · 585 cals / serving
The takeaway favorite at home: thin chicken breasts in a shatteringly crisp panko crust, made in the air fryer, sliced over fluffy rice and smothered in a smooth, mildly spiced, gently sweet Japanese-style curry sauce of onion, carrot and apple. A sharp quick-pickled cucumber and cabbage slaw on the side cuts right through it.
Ingredients
Curry sauce
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
- 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder, mild
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 500 ml chicken broth
- 1 small apple, peeled and grated
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp cornstarch, cornflour, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
Rice
- 150 g jasmine rice, or sushi rice, rinsed
Pickled slaw
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1/4 white cabbage cabbage, finely shredded
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 spring onions green onions, sliced
Katsu chicken
- 700 g chicken breast, 2 large breasts, halved horizontally
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, plain flour
- 1 egg
- 60 g breadcrumbs, panko
- a few sprays cooking spray
Steps
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion and carrot with a pinch of the salt for 8–10 minutes, until soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic and ginger for the last minute.
- Stir in the curry powder and garam masala and fry for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the stock, apple, soy sauce and honey, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes, until the carrot is very soft.
- Blitz the sauce with a stick blender until completely smooth. Stir in the cornflour mix and simmer for 2 minutes until it is thick and glossy. Keep warm; add a splash of water if it gets too thick.
- Meanwhile cook the rice according to the packet, then leave it covered for 5 minutes.
- Toss the cucumber, cabbage and spring onions with the rice vinegar and a pinch of salt and leave to soften while you cook the chicken.
- Flatten the chicken pieces between two sheets of baking paper to an even 1 cm and season with the rest of the salt. Dust in flour, dip in the beaten egg, then press firmly into the panko on both sides.
- Heat the air fryer to 200C. Spray the chicken well on both sides and air-fry for 10–12 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and 165°F in the thickest part (or bake on a rack at 220C/200C fan/gas 7 for 18–20 minutes). Rest for 2 minutes, slice into strips, and serve over the rice with the sauce poured across one side and the pickled slaw alongside.
Good to know
Why the apple?
Japanese curry sauce is famously mild and a little sweet. A grated apple gives that sweetness and body without much sugar, and it disappears completely when you blend the sauce.
Can I make the sauce ahead?
Yes, it keeps for 3 days in the fridge and freezes well. Reheat with a splash of water, then crumb and cook the chicken fresh so it stays crisp.
No air fryer?
Bake the crumbed chicken on a rack set over a tray so the hot air reaches the underside, and spray it well. A rack is the difference between crisp and soggy.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 94
- Protein
- (36%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (18%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (46%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 246 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2340 kcal goes into the pot and 2534 g of ingredients comes out as about 2480 g of food: 94 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.