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Crispy Sweet Potato Katsu w/ Jasmine Rice
Serves: 4
Cooking time ~40 minutes
This is a great way to pack a load of vegetables into a dish which ultimately feels very indulgent. Panko breadcrumbs are essential for the texture here. I used Aquafaba as an Egg substitute to make the dish Vegan. You can get this by just draining a can of Chickpeas and keeping all the liquid.
Ingredients:
3 Large Sweet Potatoes
1 Large Carrot
2 Sticks Celery
1 ½ Onions
200g Mushrooms
4x Garlic Cloves
Chunk of Fresh Ginger
1tsp Ground Cinnamon
5tbsp Curry Powder
3tbsp Garam Masala
800ml Vegetable Stock
1tbsp Brown Sugar
Dash of Soy Sauce
Flour
Panko Breadcrumbs
Egg / Aquafaba
Rice
Method:
Preheat your Oven to 200°C
Start by prepping the Sweet Potato. Peel them and cut them in half. Then, carefully slice them into oblong shapes. You want these to have a bit of bite and texture so we don't want them too thin. Think about getting them as thick as an iPhone.
You'll need about 4 of these per person, so there should be plenty of Sweet Potato left over. We'll put the rest of that through the Curry so keep that to one side.
With your Sweet Potato slices, we want to make sure they are fully cooked after we fry them, so about 5 minutes in the oven is a good idea to ensure this. Lay them on a baking tray with a splash of Oil and Salt & Pepper. Put them in the oven for about 5 minutes - we want them to be almost cooked. Set them aside to cool.
Think about your Rice - if you've got uncooked Rice then get it on in time (there's probably about 25 mins of cooking left here). I just use microwave bags for this meal as it's a hell of a lot easier.
Onto the Veg. We're going to blitz the sauce later so it doesn't really matter how finely you chop the Veg. Chop up all of the Veg listed above as well as the Ginger and Garlic.
This next part is a great technique for thickening sauces. Heat 5tbsp of Oil in a pan on a medium heat and add 5tbsp Flour to it, whisking it all in. Once mixed and browned, set this aside in a small bowl. We'll add this back to the Curry later.
To start the Curry sauce, get a big pan on the heat and add the Carrot, Celery and Onion. Fry off for 5 minutes or until the Carrot starts to soften a bit. Add a generous pinch of Salt and Pepper. Then, add the Garlic and Ginger and fry off for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the Mushrooms and fry for a minute, followed by the Garam Masala, 4tbsp of Curry Powder and the Cinnamon. Mix well.
Add the Vegetable Stock in next. I would use 2 stock cubes for this amount of water. If you're not fussed about it being Vegan or Veggie, you can add a Chicken Stock cube here too. Add the rest of your Sweet Potato (the leftover, not the stuff you put in the oven!) with the Stock and bring to a quick boil. Turn the heat down to low/medium, put the lid on the pan and cover. Let cook away for about 10 minutes.
While it's cooking, you can prep your Katsu Sweet Potato slices. Get 3 bowls on the go - one with Flour, a pinch of Salt and the remaining tablespoon of Curry Powder, one with the Aquafaba or whisked egg, and the last one with Panko breadcrumbs.
Roll the Sweet Potato in the Flour, then the Aquafaba and finally the Panko mix until evenly coated. Repeat until all are covered.
Once that's done, add that Oil/Flour mix from earlier, give the mixture a good stir and also add the Brown Sugar and Soy Sauce. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. You can set this aside for now to cool slightly, before blitzing it until smooth with a stick blender (you can also carefully blitz in batches in a normal blender).
Get some Vegetable Oil in a frying pan and set to a medium/high heat. Fry off the Sweet Potato in the Oil, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. When the Sweet Potato slices are golden brown, set them aside on a plate lined with kitchen roll to drain and sprinkle with Salt.
When all your elements are ready, it's time to plate! Get some Rice in a bowl, lay the Sweet Potato slices on top, pour over some Katsu sauce and garnish with some Pickled Red Onions.
Enjoy! If you fancy sharing your effort, please tag @wellgoodgrub on Instagram.