I was 16 when I ate Japanese food for the first time. I remember I bit into a piece of sushi and promptly spat it out.
I wondered why anyone would want to eat a cold and slimy piece of raw fish. Well, I have since come a long way – I LOVE sashimi now.
But I digress.
When I next visited a Japanese restaurant, I decided to stay safe and ordered something cooked. So I picked a bowl of katsu don. I promptly fell in love with it.
Years passed and I would order katsu don in restaurants but I never thought to try to cook it at home. To me, Japanese food was mysterious and I had no idea what ingredients to use anyway.
When I finally decided to cook Oyakadon, I was blown away at how similar the one I made tasted like what is served at restaurants (but made at a fraction of what it would have cost at a restaurant) and feeling encouraged, I decided to take on katsu don.
Today I am going to share with you my recipe for chicken katsu don.
Since a katsu don cannot do without the the chicken katsu, I started by frying the chicken cutlet.
To do this, trim a piece of chicken breast. You can cut the chicken into 2 pieces lengthwise if you prefer a thinner piece of cutlet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Dredge the chicken in corn flour, shaking off the excess flour.
Then dredge in the beaten egg, again, shaking off the excess egg.
Coat the chicken with panko bread crumbs.
Carefully, place the chicken pieces into hot oil and fry them in batches until they turn golden brown.
Once cooked, transfer the chicken onto cooling racks to cool a little.
In the meantime, get on with the sauce.
Into a saucepan, add dashi (dissolve one sachet of dashi granules in a litre of hot water), soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake and sugar.
Also add the thinly sliced onions. Simmer until the onions became soft. If you prefer your onions to have a bit of a bite, cook for a slightly shorter time.
Slice the chicken cutlet into smaller bite-sized pieces.
Place the chicken into the saucepan.
Followed by a beaten egg.
And shredded seaweed.
Dish some cooked Japanese rice into a bowl. Place the chicken and sauce over the rice.
This was really, really oishi!
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- 2 small pieces chicken breast, trimmed
- 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup panko
- 3 tablespoons corn flour
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup Japanese rice (use normal rice if you prefer)
- Oil for frying
- 1 1/4 cup dashi stock
- 2 tablespoon cooking sake
- 2 tablespoon mirin
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/2-1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Shredded seaweed, to taste
- Trim a piece of chicken breast. You can cut the chicken into 2 pieces lengthwise if you prefer a thinner piece of cutlet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Dredge the chicken in corn flour, shaking off the excess flour. hen dredge in the beaten egg, again, shaking off the excess egg.
- Coat the chicken with panko bread crumbs.
- Carefully, place the chicken pieces into hot oil and fry them in batches until they turn golden brown.
- Once cooked, transfer the chicken onto cooling racks to cool a little.
- Into a saucepan, add dashi (dissolve one sachet of dashi granules in a litre of hot water), soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake and sugar.
- Also add the thinly sliced onions. Simmer until the onions became soft. If you prefer your onions to have a bit of a bite, cook for a slightly shorter time.
- Slice the chicken cutlet into smaller bite-sized pieces. Place the chicken into the saucepan. Followed by a beaten egg.
- And shredded seaweed.
- Dish some cooked Japanese rice into a bowl. Place the chicken and sauce over the rice.
Please join us tomorrow as Winnie from toddlymummy will be sharing her recipe for Tamagoyaki. A Japanese version of the favourite omelette, fried and rolled, with an added twist. Do check it out!
What can I substitute the mirin and cooking sake with?
When a recipe calls for mirin, the Japanese sweet rice wine, you need a combination of acidic and sweet flavors. Add between 1 and 2 tablespoons of sugar to 1/2 cup of white wine, vermouth, or dry sherry to replace 1/2 cup of mirin.
Mirin has a very low alcohol content and is a sweetened rice wine. Assuming that you are looking for a non-alcoholic alternative we would suggest making up a light sugar syrup with 2 teaspoons of caster sugar dissolved in 4 teaspoons of hot water.
Sake – Rice vinegar
Where can I get the dashi granules from?
Hi Sue FairPrice Finest/ Cold Storage – in the Japanese food section.
Hi, where can I get sake, cannot find in ntuc finest? Possible to use hua diao jiu if dun have sake?
Hi Eileen the taste is different. Some Cold Storage will have it, and definitely the Japanese supermarkets. They may be sold under different brand names so you might have to check with the staff at the supermarkets.
Where can I get Panko bread crumbs? Can’t find it in Cold Storage n Fairprice Xtra.
Hi Lina you should be able to get them in the bigger supermarkets. There is a Korean version too which is also good. Alternatively you can try the Japanese supermarkets.
Can I use Bonito Flavoured Soup Base instead of Dashi? And how much shld I add?