Katsu Curry

Katsu curry is a Japanese dish consisting of crispy fried pieces of chicken in a smooth rich curry sauce. The chicken pieces are dipped in flour & egg and coated with panko breadcrumbs to give them that lovely crunchy texture when deep fried.

My recipe is a vegetarian version of this dish using aubergine and sweet potato slices and chickpea water instead of egg. I often make it with tofoo slices too. Tastes wonderful!  

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large dutch aubergine & 2 sweet potatoes cut into rounds (or 550g Naked Tofoo)

1 tbsp. oil

1 onion finely chopped

4 large carrots grated

5 cloves crushed garlic

2 inch piece of ginger crushed

4 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

Breadcrumbs

1 tbsp. plain flour

Stock – (1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 650ml hot water)

1 tbsp. agave nectar or honey

4 tbsp. soy sauce

1 can chickpeas

400g basmati rice

Oil for frying tofoo

Instructions

Cook rice according to the packet instructions.

Take tofoo out of the packet and leave to drain off water by placing a weight on it.

Drain the chickpeas retaining the chickpea water.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a pan, add garlic, ginger and onion and sauté for few minutes.

Then add grated carrots and cook until they are soft.

Stir in the curry powder and garam masala and add in the flour.

Cook for a minute or two.

Pour in stock and add soy sauce, agave nectar or honey.

Let sauce cook for 5-8 minutes and then take off heat and leave to cool.

Once cool enough, blitz in blender until it is smooth.

Slice the tofoo into 12 pieces in total.

Whisk the chickpea water until it looks white and frothy.

Dip the aubergine & sweet potato slices into the flour, then chickpea water and finally the breadcrumbs.

In a large frying pan, heat some oil and fry the vegetable slices until they are golden brown on both sides.

Serve aubergine & sweet potato on top of the cooked rice and pour over the hot katsu sauce.

P.S. If you prefer non-vegetarian then use chicken instead.