Tofu Katsu Curry

Making Tofu Katsu Curry Ahead

The sauce keeps 4 days and freezes for 3 months. Crumb and bake the tofu to order.

Making Tofu Katsu Curry

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1. Wrap the tofu in a clean tea towel, set a heavy pan on top, and press 30 minutes. Cut into 8 slabs.

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2. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil for the sauce in a heavy pan and cook the onions and carrots over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often, until deeply golden and sweet. Do not rush this.

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3. Add the garlic and ginger for 1 minute, then the flour, curry powder, garam masala and turmeric, and cook 2 minutes.

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4. Add the stock a third at a time, stirring smooth, then the soy sauce and maple syrup. Simmer 15 minutes.

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5. Blend the sauce until completely smooth, return it to the pan, and stir in the extra garam masala off the heat.

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6. Heat the oven to 220°C / 425°F. Set out three shallow dishes: cornflour in one, the plant milk whisked with mustard in the second, panko with the salt and pepper in the third.

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7. Coat each tofu slab in cornflour, then the milk, then press it firmly into the panko on both sides.

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8. Lay on a lined tray, drizzle with the 3 tablespoons of oil, and bake 25 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and crisp.

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9. Slice the tofu, lay it over rice, ladle the sauce alongside rather than over it so the crumb stays crisp, and scatter with spring onions.

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Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Choosing rice.

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A Few Pointers

• Press the tofu. Wet tofu sheds its coating in the oven every time.
• Twenty minutes on the onions. That is the sauce.
• Sauce beside the katsu, not on it, or the crumb is soft before it reaches the table.

Some Background

Two problems, two fixes. Tofu holds a great deal of water that would steam the crumb off from the inside, so it is pressed for half an hour first — the crumb has nothing to adhere to otherwise. And the sauce gets its depth from onions cooked slowly to a deep gold, which is where the sweetness in a good katsu sauce comes from; the packet blocks substitute caramel colour and sugar for that twenty minutes, and it tastes like it.

Serving Ideas

Pickled ginger · Shredded cabbage · A cold Japanese lager

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Japanese Milk Bread (Shokupan), Nasu Dengaku.

Changing the Recipe

• Panko gives the crunchiest crust here, but ordinary dried breadcrumbs will still fry crisp if that's what's in the cupboard.
• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.

Quick Answers

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: a cooked weight is worked out with raw figures, so those lines run high. How the figures are worked out.

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