Chicken Katsu Curry

Chicken Katsu Curry is a delicious Japanese curry that first caught on over here in the UK through the Wagamama restaurants. I have never eaten at a Wagamama, but I have heard that theirs is very, very good.



I have bought a packaged Katsu Curry kit at the grocery store though, and was instantly hooked. It was quite, quite delicious! I thought though . . . there has to be an easy way to make it yourself, without having to use a kit.



The other week I saw some ready to cook chiller meals of Katsu Curry in our local Morrisons. These ones had fresh peas, edamame beans and red onions included and I thought to myself . . . wow, that looks like it would be really tasty. I decided to come up with my own at home version. So I did a search online and came up with a recipe for a wickedly delicious sounding Katsu Curry Sauce via Simon Rimmer. I played with the ingredients a bit and came up with this.



A delicious curry sauce that is a wonderful mix of sweet and heat and spice. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded until tender, breaded with a mixture of seasoned flour, egg and panko, and then fried until crispy tender. Delicious edamame, peas and red onions heated through in the delicious sauce and then spooned over top of the tasty chicken breasts and served along side some sticky Japanese rice.



This was wonderfully delicious and something that I will make regularly I think! I'm not sure what my brother who lived in Japan for 4 years would think of it . . . I'm not even sure if it's authentic. I only know it's delicious, and that's . . . well . . . more half the battle as far as I am concerned, and really all that counts after all!!



*Chicken Katsu Curry*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A wickedly wonderful Japanese curry in which chicken breasts are breaded and fried until crisp and then served with a delicious Oriental curry sauce spooned over top.

For the sauce:
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp fennel seed
2 green cardamom pods
2 TBS vegetable oil
2 brown onions, peeled and sliced
2 small red bird's eye chillies
1 (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes (14 ounce)
1 inch piece of fresh ginger-root, peeled and finely chopped
1 TBS ground tumeric
9 fluid ounces of chicken stock
1 TBS honey
1 TBS Japanese soy sauce

For the Chicken and curry:
3 1/2 ounces plain flour, seasoned with some fine sea salt and
freshly ground black pepper (1 cup)
5 ounces Japanese panko breadcrumbs (about 2 cups)
2 large free range eggs
4 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
4 TBS vegetable oil
5 1/2 ounces frozen peas, thawed (1 cup)
5 1/2 ounces frozen edamame beans, thawed (1 cup)
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced

Cooked Sticky Rice to serve

Dry fry the spices in a hot skillet for several minutes, until very fragrant. Remove from the heat and grind to a powder with a pestle and mortar. Heat the oil in the same pan. Add the onions and cook, until golden brown, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, chili, tomatoes, ginger-root and tumeric. Bring to the boil, add the chicken stock and then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes. Blitz the sauce until smooth. Return to the pan and whisk in the honey and soy sauce until totally amalgamated. Keep warm.

For the Katsu curry place the seasoned flour and the bread crumbs into two separate shallow bowls. Beat the eggs together in a third shallow bowl. Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic cling film and pound with a rolling pin to 1/3 inch thickeness without tearing the meat. Dust the chicken breasts with the flour, dip them into the egg and then roll them in the panko to coat thoroughly. Set aside for about 5 minutes.

Heat the oil in a clean frying pan over medium heat until hot. Add the chicken breasts and cook them until browned on both sides and cooked through, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Keep warm in the oven. Dispose of most of the oil. Add the red onion, peas and beans to the pan Cook and stir until the onion has begun to soften and the peas and beans are crispy tender. Stir the cooked vegetables into the curry sauce and heat through.

To serve, cut each cooked chicken breast through the middle diagonally and place onto a heated plate along with some cooked sticky rice. Spoon an equal amount of the curry sauce and vegetables over each. Serve immediately.



Over in The Cottage today, some delicious Chocolate Chunk Muffins!

Boston Cream Pie

I know what you are probably thinking right now . . . what on earth does Boston Cream Pie have to do with an English Kitchen, and you would be right in thinking . . . not a heck of a lot!



Other than the fact that's it's MY English Kitchen, and that's what I baked yesterday for the missionaries when they came to tea! I do not always cook traditional food here in my kitchen, anymore than anyone else does. Sometimes I cook an Indian meal, or hmmm . . . a Chinese . . . sometimes I even cook Spaghetti Bolognaise!



Oh heck, that is an English Kitchen!!! Or at least it is today's English Kitchen . . . a happy melting pot of the traditional, mixed with all the new flavours brought to our verdant shores by it's wide and diverse immigrant population!



And I think you'll find that there are a heck of a lot of us North American's over here . . . so why shouldn't we embrace some of the goodies from our homelands from time to time???



Oh, and by the way . . . there was a Boston over here before there was one in America. Boston, UK, is situated near the south-east coast of Lincolnshire, where the River Witham becomes the Haven on its short journey to The Wash. The town is approximately 120 miles directly north of London and 32 miles south-east of Lincoln. (and now you know!)



Boston Cream pie is not a pie. It is a cake. A very delicious sponge cake, split in the middle and filled with a tasty vanilla custard cream, and then topped with a scrummy chocolate glaze . . . deeeeeee-licious! And we ate the whole thing. Traditional no. Moreish . . .yes!



*Boston Cream Pie*
Makes one 9 inch round cake
Printable Recipe

It's not a pie . . . it's a cake, filled with a delicious vanilla custard cream and topped with a scrummy chocolate glaze!

2.5 ounces of vegetable shortening (1/3 cup)
7 ounces caster sugar (1 cup)
1 large free range egg
6.5 ounces plain flour (1 1/2 cups) sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 ounces milk (2/3 cup)

For the cream filling:
3.5 ounces granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
3 TBS flour
1/4 tsp salt
375 ml of milk (1 1/2 cups)
3 large free range egg yolks
1 TBS butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the glaze:
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 TBS vegetable shortening
4 ounces sifted icing sugar (1 cup)
2 TBS hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch cake tin and dust with flour, tapping out any excess. Set aside.

Cream together the shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the vanilla to the milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk mixture. Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes before turning out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, combine the sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan. Whisk in the milk. Cook over medium low heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens, whisking constantly. Boil for one minute. Beat the egg yolks slightly. Gradually stir in about half of the boiled mixture, whisking constantly and then stir the mixture into the cooked mixture, whisking it in well. Continue to cook for several minutes longer, stirring until thick and creamy. Whisk in the butter and vanilla. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before proceeding.



Cut the cake in half horizontally. Place the bottom half on a plate. Cover with the cooled creamy mixture. Place the other half of the cake on top.

To make the glaze, melt the chocolate and shortening in a small pan over very low heat. Remove from the heat and blend in the sugar and hot water. Stir until smooth and slightly thickened, without beating. Stir in the vanilla and immediately spread on top of the cake, spreading only to the edges. Chill in the fridge for several hours before serving. Cut into wedges to serve.