Japanese curry is served in three forms – curry rice (simply referred to as curry), curry udon (noodles) and curry bread. You guessed it, curry was introduced from India by the British and is extremely popular in Japanese cuisine.
Katsu is simply a cutlet, crumbed and deep fried and put in a curry sauce. Mine is a vegan version and I shallow fried the tofu. I know, I wax lyrical about tofu because it is so versatile and a great bearer of flavours. So do try this curry as it is very different to Indian curries.
I served mine with medium grain rice which is naturally sticky. After cooking, I mixed through cut spring onions and poured a few drops of sesame oil on each serve.
INGREDIENTS
5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
100g onion, chopped
2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
200g carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon hot curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
2 tablespoons plain flour
600ml vegetable stock, hot
500g extra firm tofu, pressed down for 30 minutes and cut into 5cm squares
2 tablespoons chick pea flour (besan)
Freshly ground pepper
4 – 5 tablespoons potato flour or panko breadcrumbs
Salt to taste
METHOD
Place a medium sized sauce pan on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the garlic, onion and some salt to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes until onions are soft.
Mix in carrots, curry powder, garam masala and sugar. Cook for ten minutes. Stir in flour for a minute.
Add the stock and simmer for 30 minutes till the carrots are soft.
Use a stick blender, blitz the sauce and make sure there are no lumps. Keep the sauce warm on a very low heat.
In a non-stick pan, heat the remaining oil.
Season the tofu with salt and pepper. Make a slurry using chick pea flour and water. Have the flour or breadcrumbs spread on a plate. Dip the seasoned tofu pieces in the chick pea slurry and dredge with potato flour. Fry in batches until all tofu is fried.
To serve, put your rice in a small shallow bowl and turn upside down. Top with the fried tofu pieces and spoon the katsu sauce generously over the tofu. Serves four but there will be some sauce leftover for next time.