My mom is here visiting again! When she arrived from a day of traveling, I served Chicken Katsu for dinner (with rice, miso soup, and miso green beans – not a low sodium meal!). It was comfort food Japanese style. When I lived in Japan, this was a favorite dish to order at a mom and pop type of restaurant –the equivalent of a nice, hot diner meal here in the U.S.
Basically Chicken Katsu is breaded chicken served with a Japanese savory sauce made up of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.
I like to trim the chicken breasts to make them thinner using kitchen shears. Then I pound them to an even thickness in a Ziploc bag.
To bread, I simply coat in flour, then egg, then panko (Japanese bread crumbs).
Then, I fry them up in a skillet and keep warm in the oven while I continue to cook all the chicken pieces.
Slice the chicken into strips at a diagonal and serve with sauce and hot rice! Perfect comfort food. :)
Chicken Katsu
4 chicken breasts
kosher salt
½ cup flour
2 eggs or 1 egg + 1 white, beaten
1 ½ cups panko
about 1/3 cup canola oil for frying
¼ cup ketchup
1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Trim tenderloin from chicken breasts. Place breasts and tenderloin pieces in a large Ziploc bag and lightly pound until each piece of chicken is uniform thickness, about 1/4 –inch.
- Measure flour and place in shallow dish. Beat eggs in another shallow dish. Measure panko and place in third shallow dish.
- Pat chicken dry, place on plate and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Dredge a piece of chicken in flour. Coat in egg. Coat in panko. Set on clean plate. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
- Heat a large skillet with about 1/3 cup canola oil. Test with a few crumbs of panko. When it sizzles, the oil is ready.
- Place a few pieces of the coated chicken in the oil being careful not to crowd the pan. Saute on each side until golden, about 1-2 minutes per side. Drain on rack set over a baking sheet. Place chicken in warmed oven and continue to cook remaining chicken in skillet.
- To make sauce, stir ketchup and Worcestershire sauce together until fully combined. Serve with chicken.
Yield: 4 servings
