Katsu Curry

You wouldn’t catch your average Japanese housewife faffing around making a curry roux from scratch. Not when there are dozens of excellent ready made versions requiring little more effort than the mere flick of a kettle switch.

Katsu curry is a veritable thing of joy and one that’s warmed me through many a grim London winter but I must admit, I’ve always turned lazily to those ready made bars of S&B. So when an old friend from Osaka passed on her recipe, I was excited at the thought of seeing what actually went into this unique dish.

Curry was first introduced to the Japanese by British soldiers during the days of the Raj, and their twice removed version explains the use of ingredients like honey and fruit as well as the predilection for pork instead of the more traditional chicken or lamb.

Today “kare” is adored as a national dish, and turns up in everything from bread to soup and noodles. There are some fascinating regional versions back in Nihon, including Nashi pear curry, Hiroshima’s oyster curry, deer curry from Hokkaido and Nagano’s apple curry. However, on this island it’s the crispy breaded protein slathered in that spicy sweet sauce, more reminiscent of the chip shop than the curry house,  that we’ve grown to know and love.

The word “katsu” is derived from “cutlet” and basically refers to any deep-fried boneless meat. Instead of pork I plumped for turkey, to delicious effect. Predictably enough the home made version blows those shop bought sauces out of the water. It somehow combines all the comforting, Fisher Price creaminess you’d expect, with a fragrant jab of fresh, spicy heat. An utter delight.

It might be a far cry from the stuff you’d find on a Hyderabadi hob, but somehow it never fails to comfort and soothe, which ultimately, is all a good curry needs to do.

4 turkey steaks

2 tbsp plain flour

1 egg, beaten

25g (1oz) panko breadcrumbs

vegetable oil for deep frying

Rice (preferably Japanese, but I find brown rice also works well)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

25g (1oz) butter

1 onion, sliced v.thinly

3 garlic cloves, grated/finely chopped

1 inch fresh root ginger, finely grated/chopped

2 tbsp mild Japanese curry powder or 1  1/2 to 2 tbsp  Indian curry powder

4 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp mango chutney (Geetas is good)

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, finely chopped

400g (14 oz) button mushrooms, sliced

1 cooking apple, grated

1 carrot grated

1 stick celery, finely chopped

600ml (1 pint) vegetable stock

salt and pepper