We are on holiday this week.  Today Millie and I spent a lovely morning together.  We went to a gorgeous little Japanese shop in subiaco (Hay Street behind the Nando’s) called the Green Tea Shop.  We sat at the bench and had a leisurely tea tasting while chatting about the hundreds of benefits of green tea.  What a kind, quirky man and what a shop!  We spent a longer time perusing the wonderful wares of the store, the lovely textiles, the tea sets, the bento boxes.

And this made me think about how much I love Japanese food.  And how I really should cook more Japanese food.  So after visiting a Japanese food store we decided to make Katsu Chicken for tea. 

I have never made it before but it is very easy and so tasty.  Katsu chicken is chicken crumbed in Japanese bread crumbs and served with a special sauce.  Apparently it is possible to make the sauce from scratch too, but we bought ours at the Japanese store.  This chicken turned out wonderfully.  The only thing which may be a drawback is the amount of oil used to make it.  Maybe a once-a-month dish rather than once-a-week.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts ( or how many you need)

1 egg

All purpose flour

Panko – Japanese breadcrumbs

1/2 cup oil

Tonkatsu Sauce

Rice 

Pickled ginger or any  japanese pickled vegetables

Method

Slice the chicken breast in half by placing a  chicken breast flat on a chopping board and putting one hand firmly on top.  With the other hand slice the breast in half, so it is about 1.5cm in depth.  This will ensure that frying it is a lot quicker and easier. 

Lightly whisk the egg in a bowl.  Cover one dinner plate with flour and another with the panko.  You may subsitute the panko with Western bread crumbs but the Japanese ones are better for this dish.  Dip the chicken breasts in the egg, followed by flour and then the breadcrumbs. 

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the breasts for about 4 minutes each side.  To check if they are ready make sure that the outside is a gorgeous golden brown colour.

When the breasts are cooked, slice them.  Serve them with rice and Pickled ginger.  I use a Japanese rice seasoning sprinkled on top of the rice.  It is made from nori (seaweed) pieces, salt and some seeds.  It is the perfect way to finish this meal.

And tomorrow, more Japanese.  Amelia and I are planning to have a lot of fun in the kitchen…

Mia

xoxo

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