Chicken katsu with soba noodle salad

During COVID, I developed a passion for making katsu at home. The garlic salt isn’t traditional, but I love it! I developed the soba noodle side salad while filming the series Deadloch and was inspired by Tasmanian produce to create a modern kale and nori furikake sprinkle to finish the dish.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• vegetable oil, for frying
• 2 chicken breasts, sliced thinly in half horizontally
• 100 g plain flour
• 1 egg
• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• garlic salt, to taste
• Kewpie mayo, to serve

For the kale chips

• ⅓ head of kale, cut into chip sized pieces
• olive oil, for drizzling
• ½ tsp sesame seeds
• ½ tsp wakame salt

For the noodles 

• 1 packet soba noodles
• sesame oil, for drizzling
• salt and white pepper, to season
• chilli oil/chilli flakes, to season
• bonito seasoning (dashi powder), to season
• pinch of white sugar
• soy sauce, for drizzling
• 1 lime, plus extra to serve
• 1 bunch coriander
• ¼ cup fried shallots

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Put the kettle on to boil. Place kale in a single layer on a foil-covered baking tray. Drizzle with oil and massage until the kale goes a darker green colour, sprinkle with wakame salt and sesame seeds then bake for 20 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through the cook time. When cooked, remove from the oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined tray to cool.

2. Meanwhile, place the chicken pieces between two sheets of baking paper and pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin until 1-2 cm thickness, then season both sides with salt and pepper.

3. Place the flour, egg and panko breadcrumbs into three separate bowls. Add a generous pinch of salt, pepper and garlic salt to the panko breadcrumbs and mix well to combine. Whisk the egg with a fork.

4. Prepare an ice water bowl. Fill a medium saucepan with the boiling water from the kettle, then place on high heat. Add the soba noodles to the pan, swirling occasionally, for 3 minutes, then drain, rinse with cool water and reserve in ice water.

5. Heat enough oil to shallow-fry in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, dip the chicken pieces in flour, egg and panko then repeat with all pieces, then fry for 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden and cooked through. Remove to a paper-lined plate.

6. To finish the noodles, drain then combine in a large bowl with the seasonings to your taste and toss well to combine. Slice the katsu to serve. Divide noodles, katsu and crush the kale chips over the soba. Serve with extra lime and kewpie mayo on the side.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Brilliant Brunch

Watch the full episode here

PG

Watch the full episode here

PG