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My cauliflower katsu curry is a go to recipe for our family. It is healthy and delicious. There is a bit of prep involved, but it is certainly worth the effort. I've added instructions how to make this a nut free katsu curry too.
Overall it probably takes about an hour and fifteen to prepare and cook but you can scale up and make batches of this without much more effort. The time is taken with measuring everything out.
We eat this during the week having frozen the leftovers from the weekend. Making in batches can be a really convenient way of cooking this dish.
Instead of Cauliflower you can make this with chicken too. Using the sauce with a kfc style recipe chicken is a nice change to the regular evening meal. It feels like a treat but it can be made in a healthy way too.
Contents
- 🥘 Ingredients to make a cauliflower katsu curry
- 🔪 How to make a katsu curry
- 🔄 Other ingredients you can substitute in this katsu curry
- 👨🏻🍳 Variations on the cauliflower katsu curry dish
- 🍲 Useful equipment when making katsu curry
- 🌡️ Storing katsu curry
- 💭 Top tip - mix it up
- 📋 FAQ
- 🥗 Recipes related to katsu curry
- 🍞 Try dipping these breads in!
- The Recipe
- Your Comments
🥘 Ingredients to make a cauliflower katsu curry
There are quite the number of ingredients in this recipe but all make up that special cauliflower katsu curry taste so play a part. I recommend trying to stick to the recipe as accurately as possible but there are some changes you can make if you wish.
See recipe card for quantities and further details.
🔪 How to make a katsu curry
Use this section for process shots, alternating between the step and image showing the step. Users don't like seeing process shots cluttering up the recipe card, so include your process shots here.
Peel all the leaves but save them. Chop the base off the cauliflower so it can stand on a flat surface.
Paint the mix on the cauliflower with a spoon or pastry brush. Cover as much of the top half as you can (the bottom half will be covered in sauce when serving so it is more important to cover the top.)
Sauté the carrots, onion and pepper for around 15 minutes until they soften.
Mix in the flour and then the rest of the spices (see instructions at the bottom of the post)
Add in the stock and then the coconut milk.
Simmer on a medium heat (gentle bubbles) for around 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce thickens a little. You are looking for a creamy consistency but not too runny (think chip shop curry sauce consistency).
Chop your nuts and mix with breadcrumbs. Add in some oil and serve. This goes on the top of the cauliflower once its out of the oven.
Pop the cauliflower in a casserole dish, pour the sauce around it, sprinkle the nuts on top and cook for 10 minutes in the oven.
Once cooked, decorate with a little spring onion/chilli flakes and serve.
I would advise you keep an eye on the cooking and simmering at regular intervals. For cooking you don't want to burn the cauliflower in the oven. Depending on the size of it will determine how cooked it goes.
You are looking for a cooked vegetable without it burning. Underdone and the cauliflower will be difficult to cut. Over done and it will be burned.
Hint: If the cauliflower is quite large, before putting it in the oven do a couple of cuts across it down to about 1cm from the stem. This will allow the heat into the middle and cook in the middle so it doesn't taste raw.
🔄 Other ingredients you can substitute in this katsu curry
While I recommend you try to stick to the recipe as much as possible, you can do some variations in it. To make a nut free cauliflower katsu curry you can change a few things out. Firstly, remove the tahini and the cashew nuts. Then swap out the peanut butter for a nut free peanut butter version like this.
- Nut free - Swap out the peanut butter for a nut free version. Remove the tahini paste and cashew nuts. Please make sure to check all the other ingredients (curry powders etc) to be double sure. I can't take any responsibility for you serving something containing nuts. If something is not right on this page too, please let me know.
- Vegan Katsu Curry - This is a vegan dish as coconut milk is used.
- Vegetarian - This meal is a vegetarian meal by default
- Meat version - If you want to make this katsu curry suitable for carnivores, swap out the cauliflower for a piece of chicken breast.
Feel free to ask me for any suggestions if something doesn't quite fit the diet you need it for.
👨🏻🍳 Variations on the cauliflower katsu curry dish
Try making a chicken katsu curry by swapping the cauliflower for chicken breast. Cook a chicken breast in the oven (or using pre-cooked chicken breast). Coat it in the panko breadcrumbs and cashew nuts and then brown off in the oven.
To make the breadcrumb mix stick to the chicken, dip the chicken in beaten egg first and then add the crumbs and nuts.
- Spicy - add chili pepper flakes to the panko breadcrumbs.
- KFC style - use the KFC style coating on the cauliflower (or chicken) instead of panko and cashew.
See my KFC style coating recipe on my website to learn how to make it.
🍲 Useful equipment when making katsu curry
Picking the right size casserole pot is important to make sure that the dish fits all the sauce and can fit in the oven too.
I recommend a 30cm to 40cm size casserole dish like these ones. If you don't have one this big you can split the dish into 2 before putting back in the oven for the final cook.
🌡️ Storing katsu curry
Once cooked the dish is good for 2-3 days providing you keep it in the fridge. You can reheat in the oven. Cover it in foil and put in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes to re-heat throughout.
You can reheat cauliflower katsu curry in the air fryer also. Place in the air fryer covered loosely in foil and heat at 180C for 15 minutes. Then uncover and give it another 5 minutes.
These ingredients do stand up well to freezing for up to 3 months. I'd recommend separating into individual portion dishes like these and then freeze in those. If reheating from frozen, make sure to defrost thoroughly before reheating.
💭 Top tip - mix it up
This dish is really flexible to work with so don't feel pressured to have all the ingredients. If you are missing something, just try making it without. No maple syrup, no problem - use honey. Or golden syrup!
📋 FAQ
Yes you can. In a microwavable container with a loose lid fitted, reheat for 2 minutes on full power and then stir. Then heat for another 1 to 2 minutes (depending on your microwave power). 700W microwaves will take longer to reheat than a 900W microwave.
Depending on the air fryer power it will take anywhere between 15 and 25 minutes to reheat a cauliflower katsu curry in the air fryer. Best practise is to reheat for 15 minutes and then check the food to make sure it is piping hot. Only serve up when it is piping hot (75C upwards in the middle).
You can freeze it up to 3 months in the freezer. Prior to freezing it works best to separate the portions off into what you will need to reheat. So portion into the right amounts to suit your needs. To defrost, put it in the fridge over night to slowly defrost.
🥗 Recipes related to katsu curry
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
🍞 Try dipping these breads in!
These are my favourite breads to serve with Cauliflower Katsu Curry:
The Recipe
Easy Cauliflower Katsu Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Cauliflower Large
- 3 tablespoon Peanut butter
- 2 tablespoon Maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon Plain flour
- 400 g Coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon Tahini (sesame paste)
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 10 g Root ginger (or 1 teaspoon of ground ginger)
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 Carrots Large
- 1 Green bell pepper Large
- 1 Brown onion Large
- 2 tablespoon Curry powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 2 tablespoon Panko breadcrumbs
- 40 g Cashew nuts Chopped
- 3 tablespoon Sunflower oil
- 1 Pint Vegetable stock (Stock cube and boiling water)
Instructions
Prep the Cauliflower
- Preheat the oven to 180℃.Mix together 2 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 1 tablespoon of curry powder, the salt and the tahini paste.3 tbsp Peanut butter, 2 tbsp Maple syrup, 1 tsp Tahini (sesame paste), ½ tsp Salt, 2 tbsp Curry powder
- Strip the leaves off the cauliflower and slice off the base so you have a flat surface to stand it on. Save the leaves for later. Put some baking paper or parchment on an oven tray and stand the white cauliflower on there.1 Cauliflower
- Paint the paste you have mixed together all over the cauliflower. Then put the cauliflower in the oven for 50 minutes (for a smaller cauliflower) to 1 hour (for a larger cauliflower).
Make the Katsu sauce
- In a tablespoon of oil, mix in the chopped onion, pepper and carrot on a medium heat for around 10 to 15 minutes until they have softened a little.2 Carrots, 1 Green bell pepper, 1 Brown onion, 3 tbsp Sunflower oil
- Then stir in the chopped garlic and ginger. Mix in and stir for 1 minute.4 cloves Garlic, 10 g Root ginger
- Stir in the flour. Cook for another 1 minute and then add in the rest of the curry powder (1 tbsp), the rest of the maple syrup (1 tbsp) and the garam masala (1 tsp). Leave to cook in for another 30 seconds.2 tbsp Maple syrup, 1 tbsp Plain flour, 1 tsp Garam masala, 2 tbsp Curry powder
- Pour in all of the stock (1 pint) and stir.1 Pint Vegetable stock
- Shake the tin of coconut milk to mix it up and then pour it all in.Stir for 30 seconds and then let this come to simmer. Do not let it boil but let it bubble gently. It will be quite watery so allow it to thicken up by simmering for a few minutes (up to 10 to 15 minutes). Keep stirring every so often and don't allow it to burn on the bottom of the pan.400 g Coconut milk
- When finished simmering, take off the heat until your cauliflower is ready.
Prep and cook
- Mix the panko breadcrumbs and chopped cashew nuts in a small dish with 1 tablespoon of oil.2 tbsp Panko breadcrumbs, 40 g Cashew nuts, 3 tbsp Sunflower oil
- In an oven proof casserole dish something around (30cm to 40cm square) place the cooked cauliflower in the middle.
- Pour the contents of the pan all around it. Then with some of the washed cauliflower leaves, chop them and put in the sauce.
- Sprinkle the panko/cashew mix over the top of the roasted cauliflower and on the sauce if you like and then put back in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until they have crisped up. Serve up and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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3 responses to “Cauliflower Katsu Curry”
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Easy and freezable. Great one for the family, not too wild! -
Delicious and filling. I love this recipe and I tried freezing the curry also which meant I can have it later in the week. -
The curry turned out really nice. I didn't have cashew nuts but had pine nuts so used them instead. I think that peanuts would work well too so I might try them next.
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