Japanese curry can be made in a number of different ways, but in general, Japanese curry is made by mixing the ingredients of a curry mixture into a seasoned stock of meat, vegetables, and water. After all the ingredients are mixed, the mixture will be cooked slowly over low heat and served with rice.
Ingredients
To make 3 to 4 servings
Curry Mixed Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter
- 7 tablespoons (105 ml) wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) curry powder
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) garam masala
Curry Broth
- 450 g beef, pork or chicken cut into easy-to-chew sizes.
- Salt and pepper to add taste.
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) tomato sauce
- 3 cups (750 ml) water
- 1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into coin shapes
- 1 small apple, peeled and grated
- 1 large potato, peeled and cut into small pieces
- 1 cup (250 ml) fresh or frozen edamame with skin removed
Garnish and Side Food
- White rice
- Fukujinzuke
- Rakkyou
Step
Method 1 of 3: Preparing the Broth
Step 1. Season the meat
Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of salt and 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) of ground black pepper over the meat, or season the meat to create flavour. Then leave the meat for a while.
- If you are using large pieces of meat, then cut the meat into 2.5 cm cubes before you season it. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel.
- Curry can be prepared the same way no matter what meat is used (beef, pork, or chicken), but you may want to choose the spices according to your own taste. For example, many people choose to add spiciness when cooking pork curry. You can do this by increasing the amount of pepper used or by sprinkling chili powder into the curry broth before you prepare the curry mixture.
- If you decide to make chicken curry, choose a dark part of the chicken, such as the thigh. Peel the skin off the chicken before you add the chicken to the pot.
- Alternatively, you can use no meat at all and prepare a vegetarian curry by following the next steps.
Step 2. Heat the oil
Pour cooking oil into a large, thick saucepan and heat the oil over medium heat on the stove. Leave it for about a minute for the oil to heat up evenly.
- Remember that you should use a pot with a heavy bottom and thick walls to prevent the curry from scorching. The pot should also be large enough to hold as much as 5 L.
- For added flavor, use regular butter or ghee butter instead of oil. However, the resulting differences in flavors may be difficult to distinguish as curry flavors tend to dominate these subtle variations of taste.
Step 3. Add the onions
Place the chopped onions in the hot oil and cook the onions for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the onions are soft and translucent. Temporarily remove the onions from the pot and place them on the nearest plate.
If the pan you're using is wide enough, you can set the onions to one side and not have to remove them from the pan. The important thing is to separate the onions when you are cooking the meat
Step 4. Add the meat
Add the meat to the pot. Allow each side of the meat to cook for 1 to 3 minutes, or until the cooked side is lightly browned. After that, continue cooking for another 5 or 7 minutes, or until each side is browned.
- Cooking the meat until it's brown goes a long way in adding more flavor to every bite.
- If you decide to leave the onions on the side of the pan while you cook the meat, then pay attention to the onions as the meat cooks. The onions may start to brown and still taste normal, but if they start to turn dark brown, then remove them as soon as possible before they burn and turn black.
Step 5. Add almost all of the remaining stock ingredients
Put the onions back in the pot. At this stage, you must add the tomato sauce, water, carrots, and grated apple. Stir to mix all ingredients.
Keep in mind that the ingredients for the broth that should not be added at this stage are potatoes and edamame
Step 6. Let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes
Reduce the heat from medium to low to low, until the water mixture is barely simmering. Continue cooking uncovered for 20 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally to prevent the food from sticking or scorching.
While you're letting the curry stock simmer a little, you can start preparing the curry ingredients
Method 2 of 3: Making Curry Mix Ingredients
Step 1. Melt the butter in a separate skillet
Put the butter in a small skillet. Heat the butter over medium heat on the stove, stirring occasionally until all the butter has melted.
- To save time, you can skip the instructions for making your own curry mix and use packaged curry cubes instead. You will need 4 curry cubes, or about 100 g to match the curry ingredients used in this recipe. Add the curry dice to the curry at the point where you should be adding the ingredients for your homemade curry mixture.
- Do not melt the butter over high heat. Butter tends to boil as soon as it reaches the breaking point of the fat. If you allow this to happen, you may cause the hot butter to splatter. The fat in the butter may also start to break down, affecting the flavor of the curry ingredients.
Step 2. Add the flour
Sprinkle the flour into the melted butter. Stir as soon as possible to combine the flour and butter, then continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the curry mixture is lightly browned.
- You'll need to stir the curry mixture constantly as it cooks, or at least until the flour and butter are combined and it starts to bubble. After that step, continue to stir the curry mixture from time to time.
- If you don't stir the curry ingredients well enough, they will burn quickly and create a bad taste.
- The flour should be allowed to cook thoroughly in this way. If the flour is not cooked thoroughly enough, a strong flour taste will remain.
Step 3. Add spices
Sprinkle curry powder and garam masala into the curry mixture. Stir all ingredients to mix with curry mixture over high heat for about 30 seconds. Remove the curry mixture from the heat source as soon as possible after the curry mixture has been seasoned.
You can tell that the spices have been mixed with the curry mixture when a strong aroma is smelled
Step 4. Spoon the broth into the curry mixture
Take out 125 to 250 ml of curry broth. Stir the broth into the curry mixture until a paste forms.
First of all, add a little broth and mix gradually. Use as little stock as possible to form a paste. If you add too much pasta at once, it may become difficult to combine the stock and curry mixture
Method 3 of 3: Finishing the Curry
Step 1. Transfer the curry mixture to the broth
Stir to mix the curry paste paste into the stock in the saucepan.
If you're using packaged curry cubes instead of your homemade curry mix, then add them at this point. Break the curry dice into smaller pieces. Remove the pan from the heat for a while and add the curry dice to the broth, stirring until all the curry dice are melted
Step 2. Add the potatoes and let it simmer
Add the peeled and chopped potatoes to the pot and stir to spread the potatoes evenly. Continue to let the curry simmer over low heat for 1 hour, or until the meat and potatoes are tender and the curry sauce is very thick.
Cook for a full hour if you are making beef or pork curry. If you're making chicken curry, you can let it simmer for 30 to 45 minutes to prevent the chicken from overcooking and drying out
Step 3. Mix in the edamame
If you choose to add edamame, then mix in the edamame for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- You can also add green peas to the curry if you don't have edamame, or you can add neither of them at all.
- Make sure that the skin of the edamame is removed before adding it to the curry.
Step 4. Serve
Spoon curry into each serving plate. Serve the curry with steamed white or brown rice. If you wish, garnish the curry with chopped fukujinzuke or rakkyou.
- Traditionally, Japanese curry is served in two ways: you can serve the curry in a sauce bowl and serve it with rice placed on a separate plate beside it, or you can put the rice on a plate and fill half the plate with curry.
- Be aware that fukujinzuke is a sweet pickled vegetable mix and rakkyou is a small pickled onion.
- You can save more curry by freezing it if you want, but you'll need to prepare the curry without potatoes if you want to do this. Potatoes that are frozen and thawed next time tend to have a porridge-like texture. Boil the potatoes separately and add them to the heated frozen curry.
- To freeze curry, scoop one serving of curry into a resealable, freezer-safe plastic bag. Put a label on the bag and write the name of the contents and the day you cooked it. Repeat this process for the remaining curry, setting up a separate bag for each curry serving.
