Chicken or Pork Katsu

This is a great chicken or pork katsu recipe that I’ve done several times adapted from chicken katsu recipe Just One Cookbook. When I’ve cooked chicken, I’ve tenderized the chicken breast before using, whereas with pork I don’t tenderize the meat. My husband and kids love this.

 

Here is what I usually do:

1)     Pour some cooking wine or sake on the chicken/pork

2)     Prepare 1 bowl with flour, salt and pepper. Prepare a 2^nd bowl with panko crumbs with a little dash of salt and pepper. Prepare a third bowl with soy milk. Have 1 plate for breaded pork.

3)     Dip the chicken/pork in the flour mixture. Then dip the chicken/pork in the soy milk. Finally dip the chicken/pork in the panko crumbs.

4)     Heat oil in a pan and fry until cooked.

 

Chicken Katsu (~adapted from Just One Cookbook)

 

Ingredients

·        1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (3 8-oz chicken breasts from Costco, 680 g)

·        2 Tbsp sake

·        Sea salt

 

·        freshly ground black pepper

·        all-purpose flour (plain flour)

·        2 large eggs

·        Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

·        neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for deep frying)

·        Tonkatsu Sauce

Directions

1.                Gather all the ingredients.

2.                Rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Slice the chicken diagonally. This cutting technique is called “Sogigiri” in Japanese. Each piece will have more surface area so it will cook faster. Tip: The Japanese use chopsticks to eat Chicken Katsu, so the chicken is cut into bite-sized pieces.

3.                Put the chicken in a bowl and add sake, salt, and pepper. Set aside for 15 minutes.

4.               Dust the flour on the chicken and remove the excess.

5.                Then dip each chicken piece in the beaten egg.

6.                Lastly, dredge the chicken in panko and remove the excess. If you have time, let the chicken sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

7.                Heat 1/2 inch of oil in the cast iron skillet (you can use a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven). Drop a piece of panko to see if the oil is ready. If you are new to deep-frying, use a thermometer to check the temperature of oil (Read How To Deep Fry Food). The oil for Chicken Katsu should be 350 ºF (180 ºC) degree

8.                Put 2-3 pieces of chicken in at a time. If you put too many chicken pieces, the temperature of the oil will drop too quickly and the chicken will end up absorbing too much oil.

9.                Deep fry until both sides are golden brown, about 5-6 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel-lined tray to remove excess oil.