Ono Chicken Katsu

Continuing on with our Summer Luau feast this week, I love how Hawaiian cuisine has really become a melting pot of various cuisines. The culture in Hawaii has been influenced by Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean, etc. so it’s no wonder that popular foods of these cultures have made the mainstream in Hawaiian menus. For my luau menu, I wanted something Ono, which means delicious in Hawaiian, so I added Japanese chicken katsu to the table. This Ono Chicken Katsu involves seasoned and breaded chicken breasts and serving them with a delicious katsu sauce made with ketchup, mustard powder, hints of garlic, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce…

For this recipe, you can use either regular or panko style breadcrumbs. If you are GF, I will often save the ends of GF breads or hard GF rolls/buns and process them for breadcrumbs – which tastes better than any other packaged GF breadcrumbs I’ve tried on the market. What I like about this sauce is that it takes common pantry staples and makes quite a great sauce. It’s not sweet and it’s almost like a barbeque sauce. Most of the store bought or prepared katsu sauce I’ve tried are just too sweet for my taste, but this one isn’t and is just the way it should be. In fact, it’s very much like the katsu sauce I’ve had in Japan and Hawaii…

1 cup ketchup
4 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, combine the remaining sauce ingredients and stir. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to blend the flavors before serving.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

In a shallow pan or pie plate, whisk the eggs.

In another shallow pan, place the breadcrumbs.

Dip the chicken breasts in the egg and dredge in breadcrumbs. Place coated chicken on prepared baking sheet.

After all the chicken have been coated, bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until juices run clear and chicken is cooked through.

To serve, place chicken on a serving platter and drizzle with the katsu sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley if desired and serve with rice.