One of the worst parts of leaving Hawaiʻi for college is missing the endless food options in all ethnic backgrounds. I’m 99% sure I would love Waco more if Zippy’s added a location here! In the meantime, I’ve been cooking some of my favorite childhood recipes, from shoyu chicken to beef stew to chicken katsu curry. Now I nearly burnt down my entire apartment complex the first time I tried to fry the katsu, but luckily the chicken and all of my belongings survived after a bit of practice! No plate lunch meal is complete without mac salad, so I made a small batch McCorriston style (from my mom’s side of the family, aka as little mayo as possible) to eat throughout the week!
Ingredients:
- For chicken katsu (four servings)
- Four chicken breasts
- Three eggs
- Two cups panko
- Two cups flour
- Salt, pepper
- Vegetable oil
- For mac salad
- Two cups macaroni
- Four hard boiled eggs (I like a lot in my salad!)
- Mayo to taste
- Garlic salt, pepper
- Optional: olives
Instructions:
- For katsu
- Heat one inch layer of vegetable oil in a pan on medium high heat. Test the oil temperature by tossing in a clump of panko and see if it browns.
- Pat chicken breasts with paper towel to remove excess moisture (any dampness will prevent the coating from sticking!).
- Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- Coat all sides thoroughly with flour, dip in egg, and cover completely with panko.
- Cook two katsu pieces at a time. In order to see if the inside of the chicken is cooked through, place a toothpick through the center of the thickest slice and rest the toothpick under your lower lip. If it’s still warm, then the chicken is completely cooked.
- Remove the katsu slices from the oil and rest in a bowl (do not seal the bowl or else the katsu will become soggy).
- Slice in 3/4 inch pieces and place over rice and heated curry sauce packet (not classy, but still tasty!).
- For salad
- Boil macaroni noodles according to box instructions. Once noodles are cooked, place in a container in the fridge to completely cool down.
- Simultaneously boil eggs and peel once they are cooked. Cool in the fridge until both eggs and noodles are cold.
- Chop eggs into chunky pieces and toss in a large bowl with noodles.
- Add desired mayo amount and season with garlic salt and pepper.
- Enjoy with katsu curry!
