Vegan Katsu Curry

This vegan katsu curry recipe is our vegan spin on the Japanese curry classic. Crispy fried tofu cutlets, served on a bed of rice with a thick curry sauce make a tasty, satisfying, and nutritious full meal.

Table of Contents

• Japanese curries
• Ingredient tips
• Step by step pictures
• Variations and substitutions
• Serving suggestions
• FAQs
• More vegan dinner recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Japanese curries

Japanese curries date back to the 19th century when the British brought the spice mix called curry powder to Japan from India. At first a specialised Western dish, curry was then made popular in the Navy and spread throughout the general population.

Now curries are among the most eaten meals in Japan. Katsu curry is one of the most popular Japanese curries, and probably the best known outside of Japan.

For a traditional katsu curry, a cutlet of pork, beef or chicken would be served with the curried vegetable sauce. This comes with a side of rice, of course, and some pickled vegetables to balance out the flavours of the curry and cleanse the palate.

In creating this vegan tofu katsu curry, we adapted our breaded tofu recipe to bring the crunchy protein to this dish.

The seasoned tofu cutlets are covered in a savoury coat of crispy panko breadcrumbs and sesame seeds, then shallow fried to golden brown perfection. Prepared this way, the tofu has an almost meaty texture.

The crispy tofu slices are served on a bed of rice next to a rich and thick sauce of curried roux and diced vegetables.

Some other katsu curry recipes strain the veggies out of the sauce for a smooth texture. But we think it'd be a shame to waste them! So we blend them up instead, which also brings more flavour and nutrients.

To round off the flavours of the katsu curry, our quick pickled cucumbers add a refreshing acidic note. Japanese cooking philosophy aims at creating a balance of the five basic flavours - salty, sweet, bitter, savoury (or umami) and sour - and the pickle provides the sour element.

Are you hungry yet? Let us show you how to make a great vegan katsu curry!

Ingredient tips

Here's what you need to make this vegan tofu katsu curry. Let's start with the ingredients for the Japanese curry sauce:

• Vegan butter for sauteeing the veggies - substitute vegetable oil or coconut oil.
• Onions, carrot, garlic and ginger for a nice flavour base.
• Curry powder and a bit of turmeric - you can use mild or medium curry powder, depending on your heat preference.
• Plain flour / all purpose flour - used in the roux, to thicken the sauce.
• Vegetable stock - we use Marigold Swiss Bouillon.
• Coconut milk for a rich, creamy sauce. We like full fat organic coconut milk.
• Soy sauce and maple syrup for a balanced savoury and sweet flavour.

And for the breaded crispy tofu:

• Firm tofu
• Salt and pepper - freshly ground to season the slices of tofu before breading
• Some more plain / all purpose flour - to coat the tofu as well as to mix with water for the batter.
• Soy sauce and garlic powder to season the batter.
• Panko breadcrumbs - A Japanese type of white breadcrumbs.
• And nutritional yeast and sesame seeds - mixed with the breadcrumbs for an extra savoury note.

Step by step pictures

Here’s a visual guide to help you make our vegan katsu curry. You can find the full, adjustable and printable recipe in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Katsu curry sauce

First, prepare the curry sauce.

Crispy tofu cutlets

Variations and substitutions

Instead of tofu, you can also bread vegetables such as sweet potato or eggplant/aubergine. Cut them into ½ cm or ¼ inch slices so that they cook through fully when frying.

For a slightly easier meal, instead of making the breaded tofu, just use store-bought crispy vegan chicken fillets and prepare them as instructed on the packaging.

You don’t strictly have to blend the sauce, but just leave the veggies as they are for some added texture and a bit of a bite to the sauce.

You can make a gluten-free vegan katsu curry by making several adjustments to the recipe and preparation:

• Substitute the soy sauce for tamari or liquid coconut aminos.
• Don’t make a roux with flour. Instead of adding flour, add all remaining sauce ingredients (substituting the soy sauce). Simmer as usual and after blending, thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry (made of 1 part cornstarch and 2 parts water) until the desired consistency is reached.
• For the breaded tofu, again substitute the soy sauce. Also, use gluten-free breadcrumbs and swap out the plain flour for gluten-free flour. In the batter, you can use chickpea flour for a rich flavour.

Serving suggestions

Katsu is typically served with rice. You can use Japanese short-grain rice or sushi rice. Other varieties like Jasmine rice are also delicious. Prepare a quarter cup (50 grams, or about 2 ounces) of uncooked rice per person.

We also like a garnish of black sesame seeds, which give the dish a nice finishing touch that looks great. Some sliced spring onion sprinkled on are welcome too.

For us, pickled vegetables like our quick cucumber pickle, are a must to balance the salty and slightly sweet flavours of the curry sauce with the refreshingly sour tang of the pickle. Pickled ginger, like it is served with sushi, would work as well.

FAQs

📖 Recipe