Say NO to Takeaway: Try this Katsu-Katsu Curry instead!

This is a Japanese dish so possibly not a commonly-known takeaway choice, but this is a definite contender as an alternative to dialling for a takeaway.

It actually has quite a lot of ingredients in for the sauce but don't let that put you off because it's pretty much all the stuff you will have knocking around in your cupboard. The resulting flavour is fantastic though and well worth making. I did however, have one slight mishap with this...

You see, I like to try and make things from scratch as much as possible. The sauce contains madras powder so I thought I might as well make it, instead of buying some. I'm a bit of a manic spice and herbs buyer so happened to have all the ingredients for madras powder. What could possibly go wrong eh? Well for one, I've never tried to heat the seeds of herbs and spices before. And WOAH, do they pop - quickly!

Needless to say, I was left in a thick cloud of smoke within a few minutes, the contents of the pan a sorry pile of black bits. I would have taken a picture to show you the hilarity of the situation but I was too busy coughing away and opening the kitchen windows!

So the moral of the story here? Buy your own madras powder for this! The rest of the recipe is easy, honest...! And yes, this has loads of ingredients, but it's mostly storecupboard stuff and totally worth making!

Katsu-Katsu Chicken Curry

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

1 tbsp butter
250ml boiling water
1 garlic clove, chopped
Half a small onion, chopped
2 small apples, chopped
1 banana, chopped
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp turmeric
Dash of Madras powder
1 tsp cornflour
200ml hot chicken stock
2 chicken breasts
2 beaten eggs
150g breadcrumbs
100g flour

1) Melt the butter over a low heat in a deep saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, fruit, ketchup, honey, turmeric, Madras and boiling water.
2) Add stock and simmer for 20 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, dip the chicken breasts in flour, egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs.
4) Fry in a hot wok for about 5 minutes until cooked through.
5) Sieve the sauce to get rid of the lumps of fruit and such, then pour over the chicken.

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too.