Katsu Curry Burger

Oh. The delicious... the pure... the universally loved. Katsu curry. Guess what? It's delicious as a burger too, and you do not have to spend £21 on Deliveroo to achieve it on demand. (Yeah, that's based on £10ish per burger - I promise making your own is a lot more fulfilling and friendly to the old wallet!)

People ask me all the time if I have a Katsu curry recipe, and I thought I did (link) but it's really not very good. I forgot that I basically advised you to buy the curry paste, when actually it's really useful to know how to make your own. Curry powder, onions, soy sauce, flour and stock - these are all pretty standard kitchen cupboard items. I've reduced the ingredients down to the minimum, on my quest to keep cooking fun things ridiculously simple. Some recipes advise you to add grated ginger, rice wine vinegar or mirin, but I know they're the sort of things most of you won't have, and won't bother going to the shops for.

This sauce could be more tangy, so for that I'd add lime juice as an easy option. HOWEVER. In the burger it really isn't necessary. With the pickled cabbage/spring onions and mayo, you have all the flavours you need!

I'm also including a 5 minute (literally 5 minute) sweet potato katsu version. News to me, flour and warm water actually works way better than egg (I'm now a convert for life). I've presented it as a street food side, but pop them in a burger for a proper vegan carb feast!

Recipe

Katsu sweet potato option:

NOTES:
250ml stock for the burger sauce
Additional 150ml stock for the chip dip
Personally I don't think making your own pink slaw is worth it, unless you're going to use the rest of the cabbage and veg up in other recipes! It was so convenient to buy the pot, and this is the link.

Method

For the full meal, chop white and sweet potato into thin chips, place on baking parchment (they stick WAY less than on foil) and lightly season. I would actually hold the seasoning, as with the curry my mix of smoked paprika and salt was a little overpowering here. Begin cooking them at 190C.

Get your stock ready and leave to the side in a jug. 

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan with crushed garlic on a medium heat. Slice two circles of onion for the burgers and put them to the side. Finely dice the remaining onion, and add to the pan, cooking until soft.

Add the flour and curry powder. Stir until all the oil is absorbed, and then add the stock in small amounts, stirring constantly. 

Once you've stirred in about 200ml of curry sauce, add the breaded chicken on top of the chips, along with a slice of red onion, and pop it back into the oven.

Stir in 50ml more stock to the curry sauce along with the soy sauce and honey, and leave on a low heat.

*This is where the sweet potato option picks up

Start prepping your burger buns with the pickles, and chop the spring onion.

Once the chicken is cooked, spoon the thick curry sauce onto the burger buns and place the chicken & onion on top.

Turn the curry up to a high heat, and pour in the remaining 150ml. Stir quickly until it turns into a sauce again, and pour it into a bowl.

Vegan Sweet Potato Option

Wash and slice the sweet potato into 5-8mm circles. 

Line a hot frying pan with oil.

Whisk up equal parts plain four and warm water in a small bowl (I used leftover water from the kettle). Dip the sweet potato slices into this mixture on both sides, then into a bowl of breadcrumbs, and then the frying pan.

Each side should take between 1-2 minutes, and keep checking to see whether it's browned. They can burn quickly, so keep an eye on them.

Place cooked slices directly onto the curry slathered burger buns and decorate.

Plating up

Decorating the burgers can be an aesthetically pleasing affair - it can.

Spread the thick curry sauce onto the bottom bun half.
Chicken / Katsu sweet potato
Mayo drizzled
Spring onions scattered
Pink pickled cabbage
Top bun

Serve the burgers on small plates, and the chips on a sharing platter with a small bowl for the curry sauce.

Or, take inspiration from the street-style katsu sweet potato, and drizzle everything on top. Like Katsu curry nachos. Yes.

This was actually the first time I'd eaten or made a katsu curry burger - but after seeing a pal on Instagram find one last week I couldn't stop thinking about it. And it's definitely going to be a go-to for our burger feel-good burger nights from now on!

I know people are going to love this one, so please show me your creations on Insta! @pollyvdsz :)

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PS - I blog for fun and free, but if you'd like to show support in a physical way and my products at Sighh aren't your jam - I've started a ko-fi page. It's a really sweet concept where you basically 'tip' creatives small amounts whenever you feel like it. For me, it'll definitely go towards coffee, but also finding new restaurants to blog about, buying food and props for posts like this!