Chicken Tonkatsu with Stir Fry & Rice....mmm...just like I used to have in Japan!

This is one of my favorite dishes I used to have when I lived in Japan. I was this picky young military brat who didn’t like any of the fancy Japanese food! My mom then introduced my to Katsu, which is basically breaded pork or chicken, fried crispy and with this Asian gravy on it that is to die for! Anyways, my wife and I were at the Asian market and I came across some Katsu sauce made by Kikkoman and decided it was time to make me some Katsu! So here it is!

Chicken Tankatsu with Stir Fry & Rice

To begin with, I suggest getting the rice cooked and then letting it sit while you cook the rest of the meal. Start off with 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water. The rule of thumb is typically to do 1 part rice to 2 parts water whenever you make rice. You bring it to a quick simmer and then lower the heat to a low simmer for about 30 minutes. Some hints If you like flavorful rice is to use chicken stock instead of water or to add a bay leaf to the water.

Stir Fry

1 Package of dried Egg Noodles (from they Asian store, not country egg noodles. They look like Udon noodles)

½ cup of soy sauce

1 Tsp of sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 tsp onion powder
12oz of stir fry veggies (I buy the frozen kind in a bag)

The Katsu only takes 10 minutes so I made this before hand as well. You just boil up the amount of noodles you want for about 5 minutes. Then strain. In a hot skillet add the 1 tsp of sesame oil and then add the chopped garlic. Fry for about a minute, then add the noodles and veggies and ½ cup of soy sauce. Saute up for about 5 minutes and then cover.

Chicken Katsu

2   1lb chicken breasts cut into thin pieces length wise. You should be able to get 3 pieces per breast, about ¼ thick

3 cups of Panko Breading (spread out to bread the chicken). You can use crumbled up saltines mixed with regular breading if finding the Panko breading is too fancy for you!

4 eggs whisked and mixed with ½ of soy sauce in a shallow bowl for dipping the chicken in

Salt & Pepper

3 cups of oil

Turn the pan on and get the oil hot in the pan. About med high. Salt and Pepper the chicken cutlets and then dip in the egg soy sauce wash. Let them soak for 10-15 seconds and then properly lay them in the Panko mixture and get them nice and coated with the breading. Take the breaded pieces and set them on a cutting board. Do this to the rest of the pieces. By the time you are done, the oil should be nice and hot. Lay the breasts in the oil and fry about 3 minutes per side. When done, lay them out on some paper towels to soak up the residual grease. Once cool enough to touch, slice them babies up and then pour the Katsu sauce over the sliced pieces. Careful to use too much of the Katsu sauce!