Gluten Free! Lupin Chicken Katsu

This is my first Japanese recipe using my new super food – Lupin Flakes!

I use Australian sweet Lupin Flakes as the crumb in a well-known Japanese dish – Chicken Katsu  (Did you know that Katsu is from the English ‘Cutlet’ or the French ‘ Cotelette’?).

In this recipe, the Lupin crumbs are as crispy as Panko, and for a bonus, this Chicken Katsu is now gluten free as well as suitable for low carb diet.

As Lupin Flakes are slightly sweet (as it is a legume), I do not think that you need to make a separate sauce to go with this Chicken Katsu.

Try this recipe if you are on a gluten free or low carb diet, or just want try something new in a traditional Japanese cooking. Hope you like it 🙂

Ingredients (Serving for 2):

1 free range Chicken Breast

1 teaspoon of Dark Sugar

2 pinch of Sea Salt

Sea Salt and Black Pepper for seasoning

1 tablespoon of Corn flour (or your choice of gluten free flour)

1 Egg

1/2 cup of Lupin Flakes

Oil for Shallow-Frying

Method:

Preparation for Chicken Breast

1. Firstly make chicken breast thinner and flatter. Lay the chicken breast flat . Slice lengthways down the middle to halfway through. From the bottom of the cut, slice out towards the side and fold out the flaps you have created, like a book, door or butterfly (whatever you want to call it). Cut it into half to make 2 even pieces.
2. Rub dark sugar and 2 pinches of sea salt into the chicken breasts. Cover them with a plastic wrap and leave them for about 20 minutes (This method is to neutrilise of the smell of chicken, as well as to make the chicken breast moist).
3. Pat-dry the chicken breasts with kitchen paper towels and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Crumbing

1. Tip corn flour (or your choice of flour) onto a plate, beat an egg in a shallow bowl and tip lupin flakes onto a plate.
2. Firstly coat the chicken breasts with the flour and shake the excess flour off. Secondly dip the chicken into the beaten egg. And then, press the chicken into the lupin flakes.

Shallow-Frying

1. Heat oil to 180 °C in a large frying pan. Place the crumbed chicken breasts into the oil and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until they are cooked and become golden and crispy.
2. Remove them from the oil and drain excess oil on a wire rack or kitchen paper towels.

Plating

Slice the chicken katsu into stripes and serve while hot.