Vegetable Katsu Curry with Jasmine Rice & Gyoza Dumplings with a Miso Dipping Sauce

Lots of family favourites on this weekends menu.

Welcome to Issue 8 of Weekend Wonders: One Meal, Endless Flavours - we’re heading East to Japan this weekend with 2 of my children’s perennial favourite things to eat - katsu curry & gyoza. Jasmine rice is a great companion to katsu curry, particularly if you want to serve the rice as a dome turned out from an oiled bowl to get the full Wagamama vibe!

Gyoza dumplings can be a little fiddly at first, but fear not, the more you make the easier it gets. I hope that the video of me making them is helpful. Making 30 may seem excessive! But, in my experience the gyoza skins come frozen in packets of 30, and once you’ve defrosted them you’re kind of committed! Also they don’t take much filling, so you may as well bulk up they reheat well and can be frozen once cooked.

Hoping you got some of the sunshine today, such a relief to see blue skies! I am aiming for a bit of allotment time this weekend, very much hoping the weather stays dry.

Wishing you a grand weekend and happy times cooking,

Chloe x

1. Make the Miso Dipping Sauce & Gyoza filling first as you want them both to cool before making the dumplings and serving the dipping sauce

2. Prepare the Katsu vegetables, including par boiling the sweet potato

3. Make the Katsu Curry Sauce

4. Fold the Gyoza Dumplings

5. Dip the vegetables and fry in batches

6. Cook the rice

7. Cook the Gyoza

Vegetable Katsu Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Sauce

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

1 onion, peeled & chopped

5 cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped

2 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp curry powder

200ml vegetable stock

400ml tin coconut milk

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 bay leaf

1 tsp garam masala

For the Breaded Vegetables

1 medium courgette

1 small aubergine

1 red pepper

200g broccoli

100g plain flour

salt & pepper

1 egg, beaten

VEGAN – skip the flour and egg, make a loose batter with 2 tbsp cornflour and 100ml of water

200g panko breadcrumbs

sunflower oil for shallow frying

250g jasmine rice

Equipment

Chopping board & sharp knife

3 bowls, cereal size

Hand held blender

Frying pan

Saucepan

Baking tray lined with kitchen towel to drain the fried vegetables on

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and garlic, fry gently for 10-15 minutes until softened and lightly golden. Add the chopped carrots and continue to fry, stirring regularly for another 5 minutes, then lower the heat and leave to sweat for another 5 minutes.

• Add the curry powder and stir well together, cook until the spices become aromatic. Add the flour, stir, and cook for one minute.

• Gradually add the hot stock, stirring all the time to avoid making lumps. Once all the stock has been added, add the sugar, soy sauce and bay leaf and leave to gently simmer for 20 minutes, until the sauce is thickened.

• Add the garam masala to the pan and stir until well combined. Push the cooked sauce through a sieve, or blitz in a blender, alternatively leave it as it is if you like lumps.

• Meanwhile prepare your vegetables…..

• Slice the courgette at a 45 degree angle into large slices 4mm thick. Cut the aubergine into rounds of the same thickness. Slice the pepper, removing the stalk and seeds and cut into 1cm wide strips. Finally cut the broccoli into small florets of equal size, they need to be big enough to hold their shape but small enough to cook quickly when fried. If you prefer you can lightly steam them before coating and frying them.

• Put your seasoned flour, beaten egg or seasoned cornflour mixture if using, into separate bowls. Put the breadcrumbs into a bowl.

• In a deep large pan put in enough sunflower oil to come about 2cm up the side. Place over a moderate heat.

• Take each piece of vegetable at a time, dip in the flour, making sure it is well coated, dip in the egg covering well (or in the cornflour batter if making the vegan version) and then coat in the breadcrumbs.

• Place the coated vegetables into the hot oil in batches, just covering the bottom of the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. When cooked and golden, pop them on a baking tray lined with kitchen towel.

• Serve the curry with Jasmine rice cooked according to packet instructions.

Vegetable Gyoza

Makes approximately 30 (see note in introduction)

Ingredients

1 packet of gyoza skins

1 courgette, grated

200g frozen broad beans

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon grated ginger

6 spring onions, finely chopped

Cornflour

Salt & pepper

Sesame oil

Equipment

Small saucepan

Medium size bowl

Pastry brush & small bowl of water

Large frying pan with a well fitting lid

Measuring jug

Palette Knife

• First boil a kettle of water. Put the broad beans into a medium sized bowl and cover with boiling water, leave to one side while you prepare the other ingredients.

• Heat a small spoonful of sesame oil in a small saucepan and add the spring onions, sweat down for a couple of minutes before adding the ginger and garlic. Stir well and continue to cook gently for a few minutes until softened and starting to turn gloden brown.

• Add the courgettes and stirfry with the onion mixture until they are limp - about 2 minutes.

• Drain the broad beans and pop them out of their skins. Add to the courgette mixture, combing in well. You can mush up the filling with a fork if you like - it can make the gyoza a little easier to fold.

• Once the mixture is cold, make up your gyoza as depicted in the video here making sure to tap their bases in the cornflour - this will help a crust to form when they are cooking.

• When all of your gyoza are ready heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in the large frying pan. When hot add the gyoza to the pan (this is also in the video) making sure to leave a gap between each dumpling.

• Fry the gyoza for a couple of minutes until a light crust begins to form on the base of each one - lift them up carefully to check.

• When you are happy that they are browning a little, add 200ml water to the pan and put on the lid - the pan needs to be hot so that you are steaming the gyoza. Cook for 2 minutes before lifting off the lid, letting any remaining liquid evaporate.

• Use the palette knife to carefully slide under each dumpling to lift it from the pan and onto a plate.

• Repeat until all the gyoza are cooked.

Miso Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

2 shallots, finely diced

1 tablespoon each chopped garlic & ginger

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons mirin

1 teaspoon red miso

2 star anise

1 stick of cinnamon or cassia bark

400ml water

Equipment

Chopping board & sharp knife

Small pan & wooden spoon

Measuring jug

Tablespoon measure

• Heat the oil in the saucepan and wehn hot add the shallots. Fry gently for 5 minutes then add the ginger and garlic, fry for another 2-3 minutes until the mixture begins to turn golden brown.

• Add the mirin and cook until it has almost all evaporated.

• Add the miso sauce, stir well, careful not to let it stick.

• Add the cinnamon or cassia bark & the star anise, stir and add the water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for half an hour or until the sauce has darkened and reduced by nearly half.

• Serve at room temperature with the gyoza dumplings.

Weekend Wonders Issue 8

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