I consider Japanese curry as a modern age curry, it is so easy to prepare and effortlessly delicious (if you are not a purist that is). Not only it is cooked with meat and served with rice, it is also popular to go with fried items, for instances, chicken katsu, ebi furai and the likes.
In the winter months, we used to make this dish once forthnightly using stewing beef cubes. After about three months break from a warmer spell, we decided to attempt it again using chicken chunks this time. Both are good, though I feel that beef is much nicer after being cooked in this smooth and velvety curry broth.
There are two brands being sold in Asia Market, one is Kokumaro and another one is S&B priced at €2.85 and €3.85 respectively. Personally ,we find that the former tastes nicer for some unknown reason.
Ingredients (Serve 10)
- 1 box of Japanese curry stock
- 3 medium onions, sliced
- 400 g of beef chunks (for stewing) OR 400 g of chicken chunks, to wash and pat dry
- 2 shallots, sliced (optional)
- 4 – 5 sticks of carrots, cut in chunks
- 4 – 5 potatoes, cut in chunks
- 200 g of mushrooms, cut in quarters (optional)
- chilli flakes added to your liking(optional)
- a lot of water, about 2 L plus
Preparation
- The packaging comes with explanation on how to use the stock. I would like to explain it according to my experience here.
- After preparing the above mentioned ingredients. First, blanch the carrots and potatoes until just tender then set aside.
- Now, pan fry the onions and shallots until fragrant then add in (mushrooms first if using) chicken chunks to brown a bit. If using beef, coat them with thin layer of flour first, then pan fry them until partly firm.
- Add the pan fried ingredients into a deep pot of simmering water set on medium heat.
- Followed by blanched potato chunks and carrot chunks. Stir them in. Add in some course black pepper.
- Let them simmer through for 10 minutes. Then, break up the curry stock into cubes to add into the pot. The stock will start to melt into the simmering liquid, keep stirring until the stock blends into a thick and smooth sauce.
- If using chicken, let the curry simmer through for another 20 minutes or until all of the items in the pot are tender and soft. If using beef, let the curry simmer through for another 30 minutes.
If you have a slow cooker at home, use it for this dish. The beef would turn out tender and melt-in-the-mouth. When it’s done, serve it with rice.
This curry is very subtle in spiciness and consistency is like Bechamel sauce. Pretty comforting if you ask me. It is not hot at all even the packaging states hot. Trust me. So, add in chilli flakes for a kick if you are expecting it from a curry.
Oh yes, if you are interested in how curry is evolved into one of the Japanese cuisines, read here.
hey adel, i love japanese curry but i only wished it were spicier! yours look great! and i love this aladdin-looking jug that they use it to hold the curry at the restaurants/eateries :D
linked u up btw, sorry i didn’t “discover” yr blog earlier on. u hv nice photos & writeups! oh, and where r u from? i linked u under my international food blogs section coz i’m not sure if u r from singapore (tho’ i see u linking up quite a bit of sg bloggers) :)
Hi Evan, thanks for your feedback there. Oh, i used to live in M’sia and S’pore and now Dublin..(though will be back in S’pore soon for another while). Haha..international food blog category would suit me just fine :) thanks for the linkage and support! I’m looking forward to your next post already :)
Just add chilli flakes/powder to make the curry more spicy. That’s what I do.
This was so helpful when I was in japan! Especially given the curry packet had no english ;)
I’ve put a link to you in my first post x