Cooking a Japanese Curry with Yutaka products.

Following a few unimaginative forays into the world of cookery, I thought I'd venture out of my comfort zone and try to make a Japanese curry, with the help of some fabulous Yutaka ingredients, and their helpful website, which features several recipes.

I pretty much followed the recipe linked above, although as usual when I cook, I do like to put my own little spin on things, so this is how I did things: 

The chicken

Get yourself some chicken breast. The one I had was nicely packaged in this handy silver tray, and slightly breaded, although I wanted my chicken to be completely covered in breadcrumbs, which was where the Panko came in!

Nomnomnom!

Then I put it in the oven for half an hour at 200C, and left it there for half an hour. Note: the instructions that come with your chicken might tell you to heat it at something like 170C, but this isn't factoring the many layers of breadcrumbs you've marinated it in. In order to properly cook the centre of the chicken, you have to give it an extra boost!

The rice

I used about 100g of the sushi rice pictured at the top and about 133ml (roughly) of water. After washing the rice, I put it and the water in a saucepan, bringing the water to boil, then letting it simmer.

The sauce

My favourite part! I cut a large onion (a vital component of all my meals), and fried it with oil (and a cheeky bit of balsamic vinegar) until it was almost completely cooked. Then, I added water and Katsu curry stock:

Due to the fact that I did all this rather quickly and haphazardly (I was hungry at the end of a long day and eager to fill my stomach with this awesome curry!), the final product was, true to my cooking-level:

But taste-wise, it was everything. I'd had a biryani at Dishoom the previous week, and whilst it was very nice, I'd felt it was a tad overpriced for what it was. This was very cheap indeed (the Yutaka items are competitive high street prices), and, being the one who made it, I was able to customise my meal to my own preferences, which of course, I know better than any chef. 

The Katsu sauce was lovely and a great alternative from the usual flavour of curry I have, and the Originario rice incredibly filling. The mixture of the textures, in terms of the hardness of the breadcrumbs, the softness of the chicken, the sticky rice, all synthesised with the delicious curry sauce, made for one delectable meal.

I'm definitely going to be cooking more Japanese flavours in the future! If you're that way inclined, I'd definitely recommend the Yutaka website, which has plenty of recipes if you need inspiration 👏👌