Replica Recipe: Coco Ichibanya Chicken Curry

When Adam was in the military he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for a year. He talks about it constantly. How amazing the people are, how beautiful the beaches look, how fun the nightlife is, but mainly how delicious all of the food is. I have never been, but it is definitely on our bucket list of places to visit together. 

Now you have to remember that while hubby was stationed in Oki he was a mere 19 year old Marine. He was in a foreign country, working ridiculous hours, and was a teenaged male so he wasn't exactly eating at Michelin star quality joints if you get my drift. So when I say he talks about how delicious the food is I mainly mean he babbles on about how great their curry houses were. One in particular comes up a lot in conversation and that is Coco Iichibanya (heads up that link is in Japanese). 

From what I can gather from him and a few of his Marine Corps buddies many late nights after work or after a few rounds they would head over to the curry house and order up huge plates of cheesy chicken cutlet curry. We are talking plates covered in sauce and ooey gooey melted cheese over crispy fried chicken. What's not to love? Anyway, I have been hearing about this place for the past eight years and have been trying to replicate it to his memory ever since.

We found a few recipes in our searches and (according to hubby since I have never been) this is the closest replica we can find. The sauce doubles or even triples really well you just need to adjust your times for sweating the veggies accordingly.

For the Curry Sauce you Will Need:

 

1 TB vegetable oil

1 onion chopped

5 cloves whole garlic, peeled

1 carrot peeled and chopped

2 TB all purpose flour

1 TB HOT curry powder (you can use mild if you prefer)

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 TB soy sauce

2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

First, peel and chop all of your veggies. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the chopped onion and whole garlic. 

Saute until slightly transparent (about three or four minutes) before adding in the carrots. 

Cover and cook for ten minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Next, add your flour and curry powder.

Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly, your sauce should be almost a paste at this point.

Add in your chicken stock, soy sauce, and honey then bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for twenty minutes uncovered. If your kitchen does not smell amazing at this point you are doing something wrong.

After the twenty minutes are up, remove the pot from heat and add the Garam Masala. Give it a big stir then pass the ingredients through a mesh strainer or seive.

The goal is to get as much of the liquid out as we can from the veggies. They should look close to this when you are done:

You can go ahead and toss the veggies because we have literally gotten all of the flavor possible out of these. When all is said and done you should have a slightly thick smooth curry sauce that looks something like this:

Now it is time to move on to the chicken!

For the Chicken you Will Need:

• 1 Cup Rice
• 1 Cup Flour 
• 2 Large Eggs, beaten
• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 1 1/2 cups panko style breadcrumbs
• 1/8tsp cayanne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste 
• Shredded Cheddar for topping
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying

First start by making your rice. I make mine in a rice cooker and just let it go while I am making everything else but it is up to you. Next, using a kitchen mallet, slightly pound the chicken down. We don't want it as flat as you would for Chicken Cordon Bleu but just slightly flattened so it is a consistent thickness throughout (see the left flattened vs. the right we started with).

Next, add the cayenne to the flour then salt and pepper to taste and give it a stir. Lay the ingredients out on separate plates (or in my case paper plates and plastic containers because that's the kind of classy lassie I am) in this order: Flour mixture, beaten eggs, and Panko.

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Dredge the flattened chicken breast through the flour mixture, then coat in the egg, then dredge it through the Panko. You want a pretty generous amount of coating on each breast.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Place two chicken breasts in the oil and cook until golden brown (about five minutes on each side). Flip and repeat. Remove the chicken and place on paper towels to drain while you cook the other two pieces.

 Now it is time to plate! Place a scoop of rice on one side of the plate (think like a half moon shape.) Then cut your breasts into thin slices likes so:

Place the chicken slices on top of the rice and cover in a generous helping of sauce. I mean generous, the saucier the better.

Then cover the chicken with a handful of shredded cheese. There you have it: Coco Ichibanya Style Curry for us Stateside fans.

For reference here is a side by side comparrison of their's and of ours:

 

Not too shabby if I do say so myself and pretty darn tasty too. Be careful if you decide to try this out, as you may find yourself serious contemplating a sudden trip to Japan. I am not kidding, it is stinkin' delicious!

Coco Ichibanya Style Curry

 Sauce:

1 TB vegetable oil

1 onion chopped

5 cloves whole garlic, peeled

1 carrot peeled and chopped

2 TB all purpose flour

1 TB HOT curry powder (you can use mild if you prefer)

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 TB soy sauce

2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

Heat the oil in a pan. Then add the onion and garlic. Cook for three to four minutes until slightly transparent then add in the carotts. Cover and cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and curry powder. Stir and cook for about one minute. Add the broth, soy sauce, and honey then cook uncovered for twenty minutes. Remove the pan from heat then stire in the garam masala. Pass through a mesh strainer or sieve. Throw away the veggies.

Chicken

1 Cup Rice

1 Cup Flour 

2 Large Eggs, beaten

4 Chicken Breasts

1 1/2 cups panko style breadcrumbs

1/8tsp cayanne pepper

salt and pepper to taste 

Shredded Chedder for topping

1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying

  

Cook the rice.  Pound the chicken slightly with a malette so that it is an even width. Add the cayenne, salt, and pepper to the flour and mix. Seperate the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs onto seperate plates.  Dredge the chicken through the flour, then the eggs, and finally the panko. Heat the oil in a deep skillet. Add two pieces of chicken to the pan and cook until golden brown (about five minutes on each side). Drain on paper towels. Place rice on one side of a plate. Cut chicken into thin slices. Lay chicken on top of the rice then cover witha generous serving of the curry sauce. Top with cheese and enjoy. 

-Bee