I rarely eat fried chicken, not because I'm a health freak but I don't really get it. OKAY CHILL CHILL, to each his own! The only fried chicken I enjoy eating is Japanese Chicken Karaage. I have a soft spot for anything Japanese. Like how I don't enjoy eating normal white rice but give me Japanese rice and I'll finish the entire thing for you.
So I had cravings for fried food, and I also needed my daily bread intake...and so, THIS, THIS BABY was so comforting! It felt like the chicken had wrapped me into its warm juicy crispy breasts.
When I bit into it, I got soooo excited because it was really good!! I am a firm believer of pan frying and then baking it in the oven. Psychologically, it makes me feel better just because I feel like it straggles between the healthy (pan-fry/bake) and the sinful temptation of the unhealthy (i.e. deep fried). So YES, doing a hybrid-cooking of both pan-frying and baking makes me feel slightly better. But more importantly, I always find that these steps ensure a moist juicy cooked meat. And since I'm so kind, I've included alternatives to this hybrid-cooking in the recipe below for those who just want to stick to one method of cooking instead.
Okay, but before that let me also tell you how I've been cooking more consciously and being slightly more precise these days JUST FOR YOU ALL (using spoons to measure so that I can share the recipe, and then I have to wash the spoons. EFFORT). On most days, I just do a splash of this, a random pour of that until my inner voice whispers "that's enough". But I'm still not as precise as you'd like me to because I'm a wild child. BAM BAM BAM!
Also, just to humble brag...I used my own white sandwich bread that I made with my sourdough starter. *flips hair*
[Edited recipe for 2 sandwiches to minimise wastage of the egg dip!]
CHICKEN KATSU SANDWICH WITH SPICY MAYO
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Makes 2 sandwiches
2 chicken breasts (approximately 150g-180g each)
1/2 cup panko
1 egg
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp Japanese Mayo
Black pepper and salt to season
Olive oil
Sandwich
4 slices of milk bread/white bread
A few pieces of greens (e.g. chopped lettuce, I used mixed greens for this)
Spicy mayo
3 tbsp jap mayo
3 tbsp sriracha
1. Preheat oven to 200'c
2. In a medium-size bowl, mix egg, cornflour, milk and Japanese mayo together; set aside.
3. In a plate, pour the panko into it; set aside.
4. Gently hammer the chicken breast so that it becomes slightly relaxed and tenderized. (You can do this with the back of a knife if you don't have a meat hammer. LOL or whatever it's called). Season both sides with black pepper and salt. Using your hands, try to shape it the size of the bread. I folded the longer ends under and hammered the meat together to shape.
5. In a pan on medium-high heat, fill it generously with olive oil. Once the oil is heated up, shallow-fry the chicken breast until brown, then flip it over to fry the other surface till brown as well. Remember to fry the round sides of it as well to ensure a consistent colour all over. This will take about 10 minutes.
Alternatively,
Deep-fry: You can deep-fry it for about 10-12 minutes till brown, a faster alternative.
Oven-baked: You can just bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200'c, a healthier alternative6. Transfer the chicken breast into the oven and let it bake for additional 10 minutes to cook the chicken thoroughly.
7. As the chicken is baking, prepare the spicy mayo sauce, the greens and the bread.
8. Once the chicken is cooked, let it cool slightly. Assemble your sandwich by spreading the spicy mayo on both sides of the bread, as well as the greens. Then sandwich the chicken in between.
9. At this point, I like to take a tray/plate and lightly press on the bread so that the chicken flattens and the sandwich comes together better.
CONGRATS!! Now let the chicken embrace you! But also, does anyone else have the same dark thoughts when they dip the chicken in egg, it feels kinda sad. Like...they're related but now they're both dead and forced to coat each other.
I hope the last paragraph didn't turn you off. They sacrificed themselves for a greater yummy goodness. And I put this in the last paragraph as well because I don't think people will read the entire thing. Teehee.