Today’s recipe is a rich and flavorful Japanese katsu curry served with chicken katsu or tonkatsu over rice. The crunchy texture of chicken cutlets slathered in a creamy sauce is the ultimate comfort dish.
I have been traveling in Kyoto (京都) for the past 4 days and got to enjoy fabulous foods like Kobe Beef, and Kaiseki course. My Japan adventure continues tomorrow as we head to Hokkaido (北海道), which is known for its fresh seafood, dairy, and vegetable produce. Follow @justonecookbook on Instagram to see the recent updates!
As some of you may know, Japanese love curry. I had mentioned in my previous curry posts that Japanese curry is different from Thai or Indian curry. The sauce is thicker and the spice level is pretty mild because Japanese curry uses curry powder which was introduced by the British.
Watch How to Make Baked Tonkatsu 揚げないとんかつの作り方
Tender and juicy pork loin wrapped in crispy golden panko crust, serve with tonkatsu sauce and ground sesame seeds.
Watch How to Make Beef Curry ビーフカレーの作り方
Savory and hearty beef curry made with beef, potatoes, carrots, mushroom, and Japanese curry roux.
Katsu Curry – A Great Combination
What makes a curry even better? Try pairing it with deep fried cutlets (we call “katsu”). In Japan, this dish is called Katsu Curry (カツカレー), which is a combination of Japanese curry and Tonkatsu (or chicken katsu). Katsu curry is the ultimate comfort dish if you are craving for a big meal. When I make curry at home, Mr. JOC always prefers adding katsu on top. He just loves the crunchy texture of katsu mixed with the flavorful curry sauce. And I don’t blame him:)
Oven-Baked Katsu with Curry Sauce
It can be time consuming if you have to deep fry katsu and prepare the curry sauce at the same time. But not to worry, you can skip the deep drying and prepare the katsu in the oven instead. I’ve shared Tonkatsu and Chicken Katsu recipes which are both oven-baked. The resulting cutlets are so crispy that you can’t tell it’s not deep fried. Both baked tonkatsu and chicken katsu received very positive feedback from readers since they don’t require deep frying. Not a big fan of pork or chicken? You can also enjoy katsu curry with Fish Katsu. I’ve shared a baked fish katsu recipe but would recommend using a white fish over salmon for this dish.
Have Leftover Katsu Curry?
The great thing about Japanese curry is it’s absolutely freezer-friendly. It stores well in the freezer up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, you just need to defrost and heat up. While simmering the curry, you can prepare the baked katsu which takes only 30 minutes. Tip: be careful heating up curry in a sauce pan as it burns easily. If you are heating up curry, make sure to keep stirring it so it doesn’t burn.
If you have tried the Japanese curry or Tonkatsu/Chicken Katsu recipe by itself, but haven’t tried this Katsu Curry combination, I hope you give the fabulous combo a try! I also included video tutorials on Baked Tonkatsu & Japanese curry above for your easy reference. Happy cooking!
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- Beef Curry (or see Notes for Simple Chicken Curry recipe)
- Baked Tonkatsu (or see Notes for Baked Chicken Katsu recipe)
- cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- Furkujinzuke (red pickled daikon)
- Serve steamed rice in a plate/bowl. Place katsu of your choice on top and pour curry sauce. Garnish fukujinzuke on the side.
For Simple Chicken Curry recipe, click here.
For Baked Chicken Katsu recipe, click here.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
