Becky says: “Here’s yet another fakeaway classic that featured in my first book, How to Make Anything Gluten Free, but is tweaked here especially for the air fryer. Crushed cornflakes more closely recreate the panko breadcrumb coating you’d usually find on katsu chicken and, as you might know already, a cornflake crumb comes out especially well in the air fryer without the need for loads of oil.”

Serves 2
Takes 25 minutes

Ingredients

For the katsu sauce:

2 tbsp garlic-infused oil
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 1⁄2 tbsp gluten-free plain (all-purpose) flour or cornflour (cornstarch)
3 tsp mild curry powder
600ml (21⁄2 cups) gluten-free chicken stock
4 tsp gluten-free soy sauce
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp garam masala
Handful of chives, finely chopped, to serve (optional)

For the chicken

2 skinless chicken breast fillets
5 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp ground black or white pepper
1 large egg
80g (23⁄4oz) gluten-free cornflakes
Vegetable oil in a spray bottle, for greasing
1⁄4 tsp dried chilli flakes, to serve (optional)

Method

For the katsu sauce, heat the garlic-infused oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the carrots and fry for 2–3 minutes until slightly softened. Add the flour and curry powder. Mix well until all the carrots are coated and continue to cook for 1 minute.

Add the stock, soy sauce and bay leaves, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Once the sauce is nice and thick, yet still a pourable consistency, stir in the garam masala. Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaves. Traditionally, you’d then strain the sauce to remove the carrots, but you can leave them in if you like – they taste great!

While the sauce is simmering and thickening, prepare the chicken. Butterfly each breast fillet carefully, using a sharp knife: lay them flat and slice horizontally so you can open each like a book, being careful not to cut all the way through! If you’re not familiar with this technique (you could search online), you can always place the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of cling film (plastic wrap) and bash until flat with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Either way, we’re aiming to make the chicken as flat as possible so it’ll get more of that crispy coating and cook twice as fast.

Spread the cornflour, salt and pepper out onto a large dinner plate, ensuring it is nicely mixed. Briefly beat the egg in a medium bowl with a fork. Place the cornflakes into a large bowl and use the end of a rolling pin to bash them until consistently fine. Ensure there are no whole cornflakes left or they won’t stick to the chicken very well!

Dredge the prepared chicken on the flour plate until evenly dusted on both sides, then dip into the egg bowl until well coated. Finally, dredge in the cornflake bowl, ensuring even, tight coverage on both sides, gently squeezing and compacting the cornflakes onto the chicken.

Heat or preheat the air fryer to 200°C/400°F. Lightly grease the base of the air fryer basket or crisping tray by spraying it with a little oil.

Place the prepared chicken in the air fryer basket and spray with

oil, making sure they are touching as little as possible (or air fry in separate air fryer drawers if space is lacking). Air fry for 11–12 minutes until the cornflake crumb is crisp and golden brown in places, turning them over halfway through and spraying with oil once more. Allow to cool for 5–10 minutes before slicing, then use a sharp knife to cut each into 1cm (1⁄2 inch) strips.

Serve the crispy chicken on top of sticky jasmine rice alongside the sauce, then sprinkle with chives and dried chilli flakes, if using. If you opted not to strain the sauce, don’t forget to remove the bay leaves before serving.

As an alternative, you can use FODMAP-friendly curry powder and stock.

Vegetarian

Use 250g (9oz) extra-firm tofu, cut into long, wide slices, instead of chicken, and use gluten-free veggie/vegan stock.

Vegan

See veggie advice and use 50ml (31⁄2 tbsp) dairy-free milk to coat the tofu instead of egg.

Freeze

Once cooked and cooled, ideally freeze the chicken and sauce separately for up to 3 months. Air fry the chicken from frozen at 180°C/350°F for 7–8 minutes. Check internal temp with a digital food thermometer. Reheat the sauce in the microwave at 360W, stirring every 3 minutes until piping hot.

Gluten Free Air Fryer: 3 under-30 minute fakeaway recipes for indecisive weeknights