This beautifully sweet Japanese curry is quick, cheap and super easy to create!

SERVES 4- COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR

INGREDIENTS:

• 360g of basmati rice
• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 white onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 medium carrots
• 4tsp mild curry powder
• 1tsp garam masala
• 600ml chicken stock
• 4tbsp plain flour
• 4tsp soy sauce
• 2tsp honey
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 eggs
• breadcrumbs (I use white, but panko breadcrumbs make for crunchier chicken)
• half a cucumber
• quarter of a white or red cabbage (or both!)
• 1 red onion
• handful of corriander
• 1tbsp sesame oil
• 1tbsp soy sauce
• 1tsp sugar
• vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

METHOD:

1. Begin by adding the rice to double the amount of water in a saucepan with a sprinkling of salt. Bring this to the boil then immediately drop the heat, cover and gently simmer for 20 minutes.
2. For the curry, slice the onion, garlic and carrots. None of these need to be particularly fine as they will be blended later.
3. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil over a medium heat until both are softened. Then add the carrots and continue to fry on a low heat for a further 10 minutes.
4. Next, gradually add in the curry powder, garam masala and 2 tablespoons of the plain flour. Make sure the heat is still low to avoid burning the spices and mix together thoroughly to stop lumps from forming.
5. Slowly pour in the stock, mixing as you go, to bind together the spices with the liquid. Once added, pop in the bay leaf, the honey and soy sauce and give everything a good mix.
6. At this point the consistency should be syrupy. Now turn up the heat to bring everything to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes and until the carrots are lovely and soft.
7. At this point, you can pass the curry through a sieve to separate the liquid from the solid ingredients as most recipes suggest. But I prefer to blitz the curry together (minus the bay leaf) and then sieve it, as to not waste as much of the carrot goodness!) It makes the sauce a little thicker but the taste is equally, if not more, delicious. With either method, place the curry back on the heat to reduce further.
8. Now, onto the chicken! Lay the chicken flat onto a chopping board and cover the pieces with a sheet of baking paper. Bash each one with a rolling pin (or the bottom of a pan works well too) to tenderise the meat and flatten it out.
9. In separate bowls, whisk up the eggs in one, place the remaining flour in another and breadcrumbs in a third. Then simply take each chicken breast, coat it in the flour, dip each side in the egg and roll it around in the breadcrumbs so its fully and evenly covered.
10. Heat up vegetable oil in a large frying pan. When hot, carefully place in each chicken breast and cook for 4-5 minutes of each side (you will probably need to do this in batches of two). The breadcrumbs so be a lovely golden brown! Remove from the pan and slice each piece into even-sized strips.
11. For the salad, thinly slice the red onion, the cabbage and cucumber, which can be cut into any shape you like. Roughly chop the coriander and add all ingredients to a bowl.
12. In a small container (an old jar or tight-lidded Tupperware box work well) add together the soy sauce, sesame oil, seasoning and sugar, and shake until the latter has dissolved. Pour over the salad and mix in so that everything is thinly coated in the dressing.
13. Serve the chicken on a bed of hot, steaming rice, slathered in Katsu sauce with a good serving of the tangy salad…and enjoy!