Baked Chicken Katsu for the Whole Family

I'd been planning to make something like this for my son for a while and I'd had the breadcrumbs in the cupboard waiting but with one thing and another I'd never got round to it.

As it happened, it was a great idea, just my son decided to take one look at the sauce and said "no".  He's not much of a dunker though and I reckon this would be a great dish for the dunkers out there (children and adults) and hey, if not, it's still some pretty good home made chicken goujons or nuggets without any junk.

Traditionally Japanese Katsu is served fried with a fairly sweet curry sauce.  I wanted to reduce the fat by baking and introduce the sweetness with vegetables rather than sugar.  A pretty good result.  If you want to make it for adults only though you might like the sauce a little spicier so just add more curry paste.

Chicken Katsu - Serves 2 Adults and 1 Toddler

Ingredients

Chicken

2 Large Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Egg
Approx 100g, 3.5oz Panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs
Vegetable or Spray Oil

Katsu Sauce

50g, A scant 2oz Sweet Potato, peeled and chopped
Half a carrot, chopped
1/2 a Small onion, chopped
1 Clove Garlic
1 tsp Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Chopped Ginger
2 tsp Medium Curry Paste
200ml, 7 fl oz Tinned Coconut Milk
1 tbsp Soy Sauce

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC.

Make the sauce by sweating the potato, carrot and onion in oil until softening.  Add the garlic then the curry paste and ginger.  Add in the coconut milk and soy.  Bring to the boil, cover then then simmer for 20 minutes.  When the vegetables are cooked, puree in a blender. You can make the sauce ahead, refrigerate and warm up in the microwave later.

While the sauce is cooking, cut the chicken into nugget shapes or strips.  Whisk the egg then coat the chicken in the egg and the crumbs.  Top tip, use one hand to dunk in the egg and the other for the breadcrumbs.  It helps reduce the "oh no, I've just breadcrumbed my hand" effect.

Put the chicken pieces on a tray and either sprinkle or spray with oil.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve the chicken with the sauce and rice, salad or stir fried vegetables.

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Thank you and happy eating!  :-)