Baked Miso Chicken Curry
This recipe was first published on the Le Creuset website.
In Japan everyone loves curry. From the comforting smell of homemade vegetable curry to a late-night trip to CoCo Ichibanya, Japan’s favourite fast food joint, for katsu curry. This recipe is a super easy and tasty one-tray recipe that’s perfect for entertaining friends in the garden. The marinade has a hint of curry flavour, making the dish totally moreish.
I grew up eating curry with my family in the Yatsugatake area which could be described as a Japanese version of the Cotswolds. Views of the surrounding mountain ranges give way to rolling countryside and this scenic spot was the setting for many home-cooked meals.
One of our favourites was a vegetable curry with rice and rich gravy laced with Japanese curry powder, mirin and sake. These three ingredients are essential to recreating this flavour in my homemade marinade.
Miso adds an umami undertone to the dish. I used some of my homemade white miso in this recipe, which is made by slowly fermenting soy beans and rice koji to create that sweet and salty hit that works so well with poultry, fish or whisked into dressings. Up your fermentation game and learn to make your own miso paste in one of my miso classes.
If you can’t wait to crack on with the recipe you can pick up a great supply from Clearspring and use the 10% discount code Yuki10 at the checkout.
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Curry was introduced into Japan by Anglo-Indian immigrants over 100 years ago. They brought their anglicised version of curry across the continent in the form of curry powder, a mixture of warming Indian spices and mustard. Kare Raisu, or curry rice, soon became a staple in the Japanese diet and traditionally includes potatoes, onions and carrots.
Due to its strong British influences, it isn’t too tricky to find a curry powder in the UK that transports me back to my Mum’s kitchen in the Yatsugatake mountains. I use Barts curry powder for this and any other recipe that calls for curry powder - such as my Katsu Curry whose rich and fruity gravy-style sauce perfectly complements crispy coated vegetables or meat. You can find out more about my Katsu curry classes here.
Oven-baked curry chicken is a dish that tastes even better the next day. Use your leftovers to make a Japanese-inspired sandwich for lunch by piling the chicken and veg into a good quality brioche bun. Top with some Kewpie Japanese mayo and crunchy lettuce to complete the ultimate leftovers sandwich!
I can’t wait for you to try this tasty dish and experience a taste of the much loved Japanese curry with a summery twist.
Baked Miso Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 2 x 500g chicken legs or chicken thighs, bones removed
- ½ red pepper, sliced
- ½ yellow or orange pepper, sliced
- 1 aubergine, cubed
- 1 courgette
- Sunflower oil for roasting
- Marinade
- 50g white miso
- 1 tbsp honey or brown sugar
- 3 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 tsp curry powder
- To Garnish
- Toasted white sesame seeds
- A small handful of chopped chives
Method
- To make the marinade put all the marinade ingredients into a small bowl and mix well.
- Marinade the chicken, cover and leave for a few hours or ideally overnight in the fridge.
- Slice the peppers into 1cm strips and chop the courgette in 3cm x1 chunks. Top and tail the aubergine, cut it into quarters, then into 2cm cubes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/ Fan 180°C/ Gas Mark 6 and put all the vegetables in a roasting tray and drizzle with vegetable oil. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove the marinated chicken from the sauce and then put it on top of the vegetables. roast for about 15 minutes. The time depends on the size of the chicken, so check and adjust the cooking time as necessary. Check your chicken is cooked by ensuring the juices run clear and the fibres are set. Keep the marinade sauce to one side.
- Once the vegetables and chicken are cooked through, remove from the oven and place over a medium heat on the hob. Add about 1 tbsp of the marinade sauce (adjust to your taste) to the vegetables and mix gently. Make sure that the marinade sauce cooks properly in the pan (as it was used to marinate the raw chicken). It can easily burn so keep an eye on it too.
- Once everything is piping hot, sprinkle over some chives and toasted sesame seeds as a final garnish and serve.
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