CoCo Ichibanya Chicken Cutlet Curry

When R was living in Tokyo, one place he loved to frequent was CoCo Ichibanya Curry House, and it's one of the many places he sorely misses. When I visited him in Tokyo we went to eat there once and I have to say I completely agree with this sentiment -- the curry was awesome. Unfortunately, the only CoCo Ichibanya in the United States is in Hawaii, so trying to make it from scratch is the only way to have it again -- without, you know, spending thousands of dollars in travel fees.

Thankfully, I found a recipe through GroupRecipes.com (link at the bottom), from someone who was going through this exact same pain. I tried cooking it last night, making only a few adjustments.

The ingredient list is at the bottom, for those of you who want to skip all this foreplay. Most of them are commplace items, but two ingredients that you might find difficult to get are the Panko and the curry sauce:


You can get whatever brand of Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) you like -- you can even use regular bread crumbs, although Panko is so much better -- but the Kikkoman brand worked out really well and we managed to find it easily in ShopRite (in the bread crumb section, not the ethnic section). As for the S&B Golden Curry Sauce, this is recipe specific -- I didn't fuck around and get another brand and I don't suggest you do either. I could not find it at ShopRite and we didn't have the time to look around in Chinatown, so I ordered mine online from AsianFoodGrocer.com.

Having a small kitchen, making this dish was logistically difficult, since it involved steaming the rice, making the curry sauce in a wok, and breading/frying the chicken at the same time. R helped me with a nice setup.





The hardest part of this dish, hands down, was frying the chicken, because I have never fried anything breaded before. How will I tell when the inside is done? How do I keep the outside from burning? Will I burn myself horribly? It's all a mystery. Thankfully, despite my fear, the chicken turned out really well, and with minimal oil burns! (I explain my methods in the recipe at the bottom -- if you have a fool-proof method for frying breaded chicken, I am all ears.)

Better yet, by the time the chicken was done, so was the curry!



It really isn't a particularly long or difficult recipe, but you have to be pretty focused on what you're doing (no set-it-and-forget-it about this), and it's a big plate/pan- and mess- intensive recipe, but it was completely worth it. It tastes about 95% like the CoCo Ichibanya curry, for those of you craving that taste. For those of you who unfortunately have never experienced it, if you like curry and fried things, you will still love this dish.




Mmm. Oishii.


Problems/Changes:

1. The recipe on the site claims that this makes Level 4 Curry (out of 10). I had Level 4 in Tokyo and I remember it being hotter than this -- I would put this at a Level 3, easy. Then again, and I must stress this, my tolerance for spicy is high. If your tolerance for spicy is not that high, I suggest going to the Mild version of the S&B. If you like things really hot, thankfully for you, S&B also makes a Hot version.

2. Basically, if you have the curry sauce, bacon, eggs, panko and rice, you can make this dish any way you want. You can use pork or beef instead of chicken. You could add vegetables to the curry sauce. Etc. In fact, if you see the original recipe link below, you'll notice that the cook added cheese and mushrooms to the sauce, which I didn't. If you are lacking in the ideas department, see the CoCo Ichibanya multilingual menu (in .PDF form) for zillions of like dishes they already make. You might also want to take a look at the menu, 'cause some of the items are weird and awesome.

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Recipe

CoCo Ichibanya Curry House Chicken Cutlet Curry (Level 3)
(adapted from a recipe found in GroupRecipes.com)


* 2 cups of (uncooked) rice steamed in a rice cooker
* 2-3 strips of bacon, chopped
* 2 1/2 cups of water
* 1 3.5 oz box of S&B Golden Curry Med/Hot
* 1 chicken breast
* 1/4 box of Panko (or breadcrumbs, if you want to be lame) -- depends on how much chicken you have
* 1 large egg, beaten -- again, depends on chicken
* 4 Tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
* Spices: salt, pepper, cayenne


1. Steam rice as per directions on your rice cooker, and let it hang out.

2. In a wok or a deep skillet (on high heat), drop the chopped bacon and cook for a few minutes. Then add the water and the box of curry sauce (which is just a big green block) and lower the heat to simmer, stirring occasionally while the block dissolves.

3. While that's happening, put the beaten egg in one pie plate (or closest thing) and the Panko in another. Season the Panko with salt, pepper, cayenne, and whatever other spices you want, to taste. Now, pound the chicken breasts until they're about half an inch thick -- I put them in a ziplock bag and pounded them with a white wine bottle, myself.

4. Are you checking on the curry? Check on the curry. Stir.

5. After that, set up a hot skillet (medium-high heat, else you BURN yourself) with the peanut/vegetable oil.

6. Now, dredge the chicken breasts in the egg and then the panko, and fry in the skillet. I turned the chicken over every 1-2 minutes, and I did it about six times; basically just cook it about 5 minutes on each side to make sure it's cooked through.

7. By now, your curry should be thickened, your rice should be done, and all that's left is just to put it all together.

8. Enjoy.

9. Have your cat get mad at you because, in all the fuss of cooking and eating, you forgot to feed her.





Sorry, Nyx.

EDIT: Credit where credit is due -- R took all of these pictures with his D90.