Recipe: Chicken Katsu

I've decided to post some recipes that I like to make. I posted one sometime in January, but I think I'll be a little more regular.

One of the first successful meals I prepared for Stephan after our marriage was chicken katsu. It's basically chicken that's fried Japanese style and served with ton katsu sauce (basically a Japanese barbeque sauce). Now, usually this dish is made with pork (called ton katsu), but Stephan cannot have pork because he has an intolerance to it.

Chicken Katsu

Chicken (I like using chicken breast tenderloins, or you can cut chicken breasts in half. The number depends on how many people will eat it)

1 tablespoon of flour per cutlet

1 egg per two cutlets

1/4 cup of panko per cutlet (panko is a must. It's Japanese bread crumbs. You can find it in most supermarkets these days in the Asian food aisle, and it's not too expensive)

Dip the meat into the flour, then the egg, and finally in the panko. Fry in hot oil (375 degrees, or HIGH), turning, until golden and fully cooked.

Serve with sticky white rice (sorry, brown rice simply will not work with this, don't even think about it) ton katsu sauce, and a vegetable. I highly recommend edamame (Japanese soybeans).

You can get tonkatsu sauce at some supermarkets, but not always. Your best bet is the Asian market. It's a thick brown sauce. Kikkoman is some of the best, but there is also Ikari. But warning: the Asian markets don't always have labels in English.