Udon noodles served in Katsu curry soup is a suppertime treat served with your choice of prawns, chicken or shiitake mushrooms.
It’s been a long time in the making, but I’m ready to share with you my Katsu Curry Soup. Bowls of fragrant, heartwarmingly spiced broth, fresh vegetables and soba noodles. This Katsu soup is perfect for a cosy, hearty supper especially as we race towards winter.
Confession: this recipe has been about 7 years in the making. Really…
It all started after Chris came home one day raving about the Chicken Katsu at Wagamama. I succumbed to his judgement and tried it the next time we were out. Needless to say, I was impressed enough to attempt a homemade version.
Problem: I googled Katsu Curry Sauce but could not find a recipe for making it from scratch. I repeatedly found instructions to make the sauce using S&B Golden Curry sauce blocks.
That was fine for a while, but, if I’m honest, it did niggle me that I had to rely on a product that was um… purchased in a block but mysteriously turned into an instant curry sauce when dissolved in water. Hmmm, not quite what I was aiming for.
(On the subject of dodgy food – anybody remember Vesta Curries?)
Anyway, for several years (6 to be precise – shhhh) I continued to use the S&B blocks. Then last year I finally got myself on the right tracks and googled Japanese Curry Sauce (So obvious – I’m kicking myself). That search proved much more fruitful. I finally had the knowledge I needed to start creating my sauce.
What Spices Go into Japanese Curry?
Over the last year, I’ve been perfecting a blend of spices that forms the base of my homemade Japanese curry sauce.
This blend is a simple mix of the following ingredients:
- curry powder
- paprika
- turmeric
- hot chilli powder
- salt
- coriander
- cumin
- fenugreek
- mixed spice
I have to say, it was worth the wait and it comes with no added nasties such as monosodium glutamate. Let’s hear it for homemade.
What is Katsu Curry Soup?
My Katsu curry soup is a riff on this ever popular Japanese curry.
A typical Katsu Curry normally includes panko-breaded cutlets of meat, white rice and a delicious, thick & glossy curry sauce. It is a fantastic combination and that’s why I decided to play around, create the curry sauce from scratch and see how else I could use it.
And that is how I’ve wound up with this Katsu inspired curry soup.
I’ve not breaded any of the items in my Katsu Curry Noodle Soup. Nor does it contain cutlets of meat. However, the base of the broth is spiked with the wonderful flavour of that heavenly curry sauce.
How to Make Katsu Curry Soup
The first stage in preparing my katsu soup is to make the spice blend. I tend to make up a batch and store it in my spice rack – ingeniously labelled Katsu Curry Powder.
Next, onions are cooked slowly for around 15 minutes, to allow a little caramelisation to take place. It’s important not to rush the cooking of the onion since this caramelisation is an integral part of the overall flavour of the soup.
Next, the spice blend, carrots, stock, honey, bay leaf and soy sauce are added and everything is simmered for 8 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Noodles are then added, along with edamame beans to give a welcome burst of colour. As these ingredients cook the stock thickens nicely since the noodles release starch as they cook in the pot.
Add chicken to turn it into chicken Katsu soup. Alternatively use prawns or shiitake mushrooms. They all work well on their own. My personal favourite is to incorporate a mix of all three to round the bowl off perfectly.
Bonus: for those of you hankering after the Japanese Curry Sauce straight up, the recipe is included.
Try my Other Spiced Recipes:
📖 Recipe
Katsu Curry Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Katsu Curry Powder
- 2 teaspoon medium curry powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika sweet & mild not hot
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon hot chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground fenugreek
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
Katsu Curry Sauce
- 1 Medium onion (or 2 shallots) – thinly sliced
- 1 Garlic clove – finely chopped
- Vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon White sugar
- 1 Medium carrot – diced
- 1 tablespoon Plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 teaspoon Curry powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon Soy sauce (dark not light)
- 300 ml Stock
Katsu Curry Noodle Soup
- 1 Medium onion (or 2 shallots) – thinly sliced
- 1 Garlic clove – finely chopped
- Vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon White sugar
- 1 Medium carrot – diced
- 1 teaspoon Plain flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Katsu curry powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon Soy sauce
- 750 ml/ 3 cups Stock (vegetable or chicken)
- 75 g Edamame beans (I used frozen)
- 150 g Raw prawns (deveined)/ cooked chicken/ shiitake mushrooms
- 100 g Udon noodles
Instructions
For the Katsu Curry Powder
- Make the Katsu curry powder by putting all of the spices into a bowl and mixing well. Set aside
For the Katsu Curry Sauce
- Put the onion and garlic into a small pan with a tablespoon of oil. Cook over a gentle heat for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to fry for a further 10-15 minutes until beginning to caramelise
- Stir in the carrot and fry for 5 more minutes
- Next, add the flour, katsu curry powder and garam masala and continue to cook for a further minute
- Add the stock, honey, bay leaf and soy sauce. Allow to stand for 10 minutes whilst the stock takes on the flavours in the pan
- Strain through a sieve and return the liquid to the pan. Heat gently, stirring continuously, until the sauce thickens and approaches boiling point
- Serve immediately with breaded meat and boiled rice
For the Katsu Curry Noodle Soup
- Put the onion and garlic into a small pan with a tablespoon of oil. Cook over a gentle heat for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to fry for a further 10-15 minutes until beginning to caramelise
- Transfer the onions to a large pan. Stir in the flour, katsu curry powder and and garam masala and continue to cook for a further minute. Next add the carrots, stock, honey, bay leaf and soy sauce. Simmer for 8 minutes, stirring from time to time
- Add the noodles and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add the prawns/chicken/shiitake mushrooms and edamame beans. Let simmer for another 3-5 minutes until everything is cooked through
- Serve immediately
Manaka
I just wanted to point out Katsu means Cutlet so if it doesn’t have the Cutlet it’s just Curry. In Japan, most of the time curry is eaten without cutlets so it’s gonna be called Curry, as it is. So unless you add cutlets at the end, this is Curry Udon, which is the name of this dish in Japanese! In Japan, we never make it with seafood but usually beef or pork! Hope this helps, especially those who wanna try the OG style of this dish.
Jane Saunders
Hi Manaka – thanks for telling me this. This is a very old post, written in my very early days of blogging. It’s one that I know needs attention to bring it up to the better standard that I now write here on my blog. When I do update this post I’ll make sure to draw the distinction you mention.
Esther
Hi there,
My husband has just found some Itsu noodles that you add water to and are Katsu flavour. We wanted to try to make these from scratch and this recipe looks perfect.
Quick question before I get the ingredients. The recipe asks for stock, but what kind of stock works best?
Many thanks.
Jane Saunders
Hi Esther, good question – either veggie stock or chicken would work well, or fish stock if you are planning on adding fish/ shellfish to the dish. I hope you enjoy it – it’s a bit of a labour of love, but it’s also nice to know what is going into your katsu.