Japanese Curry

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Japanese curry or kare (カレー) is a quick, easy and fail-safe meal, making it a great choice for busy or uninspiring nights. Traditionally, you will have to make the roux from scratch using curry powder, flour, oil and seasonings. Today, thanks to the conveniences of modern life, instant curry sauce or roux are widely available in the supermarkets and they are a godsend for lazy cooks like me: you just basically dissolve the curry block into the stew at the last stage of cooking.

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For those who do not take spicy foods, Japanese curry is perfect for you because it is not spicy at all (even those labelled “hot”), in fact it is sweet! You can add a little spicy chilli powder if you can’t live without the fiery kick. I was inspired to make this after seeing how Mochachocolatarita whip up hers so effortlessly in her kitchen. 

I always have instant curry mix (pictured above) in my pantry for emergencies. The basic ingredients for Japanese curry are carrot, potato and onion. In this recipe, the choice of meat is chicken and the curry can be cooked in 30 minutes. You can be creative and experiment with different kind of meat such as beef and leftover ingredients such as mushrooms and hot dogs.

Click on photo to view full size	Printable Recipe
Note: Ingredients, seasonings and measurements are at the “Printable Recipe” link above.
	Heat casserole with oil. Add onions and cook until they are soft. Set aside on a plate (I am using a wok so I just push them to one side of the wok).
	Place chicken pieces (you should cut them bigger than shown in photo as mine was too small) in a single layer in the caserole. Let the chicken pieces brown evenly on all sides. This will allow extra flavours to be released.
	Add potatoes, carrots and water. Simmer for 20 minutes.
	Cover with lid partially during simmering. Mine is fully closed because it has an air vent.
	Once the potatoes are soft, add instant Japanese curry cubes and stir through until dissolved.
	Adjust the consistency of the curry (simmer for a few more minutes if too watery; add water if the curry is too thick). Season to taste if necessary (example salt, dashi, soy sauce, fish sauce or chilli powder).

This recipe uses four cubes of instant curry sauce (pictured above).

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Japanese Curry Recipe

Add the Japanese curry cubes only at the last stage of cooking – when the beef, carrots and potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 300g boneless chicken fillet cut to large chunks
• 1 large onion roughly chopped
• 1 potato peeled and cut to small chunks
• 2 carrots peeled and cut to small chunks
• 1 litre water
  
• 100g of instant Japanese curry sauce (I use S&B brand, 4 cubes which is half box)
  

Garnishing suggestion

• chopped spring onions
• beni shoga (picked red ginger)

You also need

• 3 litre capacity casserole (e.g. Dutch oven, soup pot, wok pan)

Directions:

1. Heat casserole with 1 tbsp oil. When the oil is heated, brown chicken in batches until evenly browned, taking care not to overcrowd the meat in the casserole. Do not discard the brown bits or juices collected in the casserole. Set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil and cook onions on medium heat until they are soft and translucent.
3. Add potatoes, carrots, browned chicken and water. Bring to a simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked.
4. Add the instant Japanese curry cubes and stir through until they are dissolved. Adjust the consistency of the curry (simmer for a few more minutes if too watery; add water if the curry is too thick). Season to taste if necessary (example salt, dashi, soy sauce, fish sauce or chilli powder; I usually do not add further seasonings as the instant curry sauce is already nicely seasoned).
5. Serve curry with rice and top with some spring onions and beni shoga for garnishing.

Noob Cook Tip

To cook Japanese rice to go with the curry, first wash rice until the water runs clear. Drain the rice and add to rice cooker with equal ratio of rice to water (1:1). Cook in rice cooker.

Ingredients Used: carrot • chicken • japanese curry • onion • potato