Japanese Curry Rice with Chicken Katsu
Japanese Curry Rice, or kare raisu, is an extremely popular dish in Japan. Fragrant, flavorful Japanese curry—with a resemblance to Indian-style curry powders, but with a personality of its own—is served with rice, or noodles, or folded into bread. We plated ours with rice and served it with katsu, a fried chicken cutlet that looks and feels a lot like a schnitzel.
Japanese curry is often sold prepared in blocks of roux. Since we are making this entire recipe from scratch, and that includes the roux, we encourage you to let the roux get relatively dark. Japanese Curry Powder is sweet and mild, so the dark roux will give it depth that isn’t found in the seasoning blend alone. It takes a little bit longer, but it’s worth it.
For the curry rice:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup all purpose (AP) flour
3 Tablespoons Japanese Curry Powder
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced or finely grated
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 medium carrots
Half of a large apple, peeled, cored, and minced or grated
1 Tablespoon honey
6 cups chicken broth
1 pound potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Rice, pickled ginger, scallions, and shredded cabbage for serving
For the katsu:
1 to 1 1/4 pounds chicken breast, cut into 4 servings
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup corn starch
1 to 2 Tablespoons Japanese Curry Powder
1 cup panko bread crumbs, plus more if necessary
Vegetable oil, for shallow pan frying
1. First, make the roux. Put butter in a saucepan and heat it over medium heat until it is melted. Stir in flour. Keep cooking over medium heat until it is a rich brown caramel color, about 30 minutes.
2. When roux is browned, add Japanese Curry Powder and minced ginger. Cook for about one minute, then set aside. This can sit for a day, refrigerated, before using.
3. Put vegetable oil in a Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, stirring if necessary.
4. Add carrots and minced or grated apples and saute for 4 or 5 more minutes, until the carrots start to soften.
5. Pour in chicken stock and bring to a boil for a minute or two. Then drop the heat back to medium, add the potatoes, and cook over medium heat until potatoes and carrots are fully tender. This should take about 20 minutes.
6. While this cooks, make the katsu cutlets. Trim chicken breasts and pound, if necessary, until they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.
7. Arrange shallow bowls or plates. Whisk egg with milk in one bowl, mix corn starch with Japanese Curry Powder in the second bowl, and pour panko bread crumbs into the third.
8. Dip chicken breasts into egg, then corn starch mixture, then egg again, and finally in panko. Set aside.
9. Pour about 1/4 inch of oil into a frying pan and heat it over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Toss a little nugget of breading into the oil to check for readiness; when the breading starts to properly fry, add the chicken.
10. Cook one or two pieces of chicken at a time, to prevent the temperature of the oil from dropping too far, which can make soggy chicken. Cook for about 5 minutes per side, or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Put on paper towels to drain.
11. When potatoes and carrots are cooked through and tender, add roux to the curry. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until broth has thickened and roux is heated through, 5-10 minutes.
12. Add peas and cook for one more minute. Stir in Kosher Salt. Taste, and adjust salt if necessary. Remove from heat.
13. Mound rice to one side of a deep plate or shallow bowl. Spoon in curry. Slice chicken katsu in thick slices, and lay the cutlet over the curry. Garnish with shredded cabbage, pickled ginger, and finely sliced scallions.