Chicken katsu noodles recipe
There are lots of wonderful textures to this recipe, from the crunchy strips of crispy chicken katsu to the silky udon noodles. The miso sauce combines nutty sesame seeds, salty soy and miso, plus a dash of mirin for a touch of acidity. Use the Middle Eastern sesame paste, tahini, if you can’t get hold of the Japanese version, neri goma.
Tip: store the remaining quantity of miso sauce in the fridge and use within five days.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 400 g wedge white cabbage, any hard core removed, finely sliced
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 0.5 red pepper, deseeded and finely sliced
- 4 x 150g (5oz) portions straight-to-wok udon noodles
- 4 tbsp teriyaki sauce
- 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 egg
- 8 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp cornflour (enough to coat the chicken)
- 2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil, for shallow frying
- 50 g white miso
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp honteri mirin
- 30 g sesame seeds
- 15 g neri goma (black sesame paste)
- 1 fat garlic clove, crushed
- 2.5 tbsp soy sauce
Details
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Recipe Type: Noodles
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 25 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- First make the miso sauce. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir together until combined. Set aside.
- Next, make the chicken katsu. Put the chicken breasts on a board and slice each one horizontally through the middle into two thin pieces. Lay between two sheets of clingfilm and bash with a rolling pin to flatten until they’re around 1cm (0.5in) thick.
- Spoon the cornflour into a shallow dish. Beat the egg in another separate dish and put the breadcrumbs into another. Dip the chicken pieces first in the cornflour (patting off any excess), then in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs until they’re coated all over.
- Heat 1–2 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil in a large, flat frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the chicken pieces, in batches if necessary, until golden on one side (about 4–5 minutes), then turn over and fry on the other side until golden, about 4–5 minutes. Check the chicken is cooked – it should no longer be pink in the middle. Lift out onto a plate, sprinkle with a little salt and keep warm.
- Heat the 2 tablespoons vegetable oil on the teppan or in a large, flat frying pan. As soon as the oil is hot and looks as though it’s shimmering, add the cabbage, spring onions and red pepper. Stir-fry for 3–4 minutes on a high heat, until the veg are starting to turn tender. Lower the heat to medium.
- Add the noodles to the cabbage mix, stir to break them up, sprinkle with 1–2 tablespoons cold water and season well. Drizzle over half the miso sauce (see tip) and half the teriyaki sauce, then continue to cook, tossing every few minutes until everything is heated through.
- Slice each of the cooked chicken breasts on a board into 6 pieces.
- To serve, divide the noodle mixture between four bowls and top with the chicken, then drizzle over the remaining teriyaki sauce.
This recipe is extracted from Japanese Cooking for the Soul (Ebury Press, £14.99). Photography by Howard Shooter.
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