One of my first memories of Wagamama was the katsu curry which I had in Sheffield. This dish for me was a pivotal moment with bringing amazing flavours together. The Wagamama cook books are brilliant. So simple and very easy to follow bringing their amazing dishes to your dining table.

The sauce is a simple sauce. It’s what makes this dish famous.

Ingredients- 2/3 tbsp of vegetable oil, 1 onion finely diced, 1 garlic clove crushed, 2.5cm piece of ginger grated, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 tbsp of curry powder, 1 tbsp of plain flour, 300ml vegetable or chicken stock, 100ml coconut milk, 1 tsp of light soy.

Method – heat the oil, when visibly hot add the diced onions, garlic and ginger. Cook until the onions have taken in a nice colour.

As the onions take a nice colour, slightly lower the heat and add the turmeric and curry powder. Cook for 2/3 minutes stirring all the time.

Add the flour and cook it out again stirring the flour in.

Add the stock a little at a time. This will thicken quickly.

Once you’ve added all your stock bring it to a rolling simmer. Add the coconut milk and the soy sauce.

I think blitzed my with a hand blender to thin the sauce out. I kept this on a low heat until needed it.

Now onto creating the rest of this iconic dish.

Ingredients- 4 chicken thighs, 50g of plain flour, 2 eggs whisked, 100g panko bread crumbs. 75ml of vegetable oil.

Method – put you oil on a medium / high heat. Place the flour, beaten eggs and panko breadcrumbs in three containers. Put the thighs in between some cling film and bash with a rolling pin the thin out the meat.

Starting with the flour coat the meat then gently dust it down, transfer to the egg and again coat the chicken then transfer straight to the panko bread crumbs then straight into the hot oil.

Give the chicken 3/4 minutes each side.

Try not to overload the pan as this will lower the oil temperature and boil the meat. I had the oven on low, when the chicken was cooked it was placed on a plate with some kitchen roll as this will remove any oil.

Once the chicken was cooked cut into strips.

I then served it up with boiled rice, salad leaves, finely diced ginger and chilli and tomato for freshness.

Thank you for reading.