Japanese curry
In Japan, we eat Japanese curry at restaurants and also cook it at home. Each family has their own curry recipes. Some people blend spices and make curry roux from scratch, but most people use pre-made curry roux. You can get Japanese curry roux at many grocery stores in the US these days. If you follow the directions on the box, it’s very easy, and you will successfully make delicious Japanese curry at home. Although, if you add a few extra steps, it will taste even better! Below I will share my curry cooking tips with you.
Japanese curry (6-8 servings)
Japanese curry roux 1 box ( 6-8 servings)
Chicken, pork or beef 2 pounds(1 kg)
Yellow onion 4
Fennel bulb 1/2 (optional)
Celery 4 stalks (optional)
Garlic 2 pieces (optional)
Ginger 1 inch piece (optional)
Canola oil 3 Tablespoons
Dashi stock / unsalted chicken stock / unsalted beef stock (Around the same amount as the box directions. You will adjust the amount while cooking.)
Canned diced tomato 1 (14.5oz) (411g)
(I like to use fire roasted canned tomatoes)
Carrot 3 (I only had 1 carrot at home this time)
Mushroom 10-15
Cabbage and red bell pepper for extra veggies (you can also use green beans, zucchini, asparagus…)
Directions
Slice onions thinly. I added sliced celery and fennel for a better flavor but these are optional.
Chop garlic and ginger finely. (This is also an optional)
Cut carrots and mushrooms into bite size pieces. Don’t wash mushroom with water. If they are dirty, wipe off with a dump paper towel.
Use any kind of meat: chicken, pork and beef. I usually use chicken thigh and not chicken breast, pork shoulder or pork belly and not pork loin. Use any meat which is not too lean. Chop meat into bite size pieces.
Add canola oil or vegetable oil in a large pot. Turn the heat to high and add onion and a pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes. Keep mixing constantly.
Reduce the heat to low and keep cooking until the onion becomes caramelized. (You can stop cooking the onion whenever you want once the onion becomes tender. The longer you cook, the sweeter and deeper caramelized onion flavor. I cooked for 1.5 hours this time.) Don’t burn the onion!
Add sliced garlic and ginger (optional) and saute there’s a nice aroma.
Turn the heat to high, add meat into the pot, keep mixing and cook until the surface color changes.
Add Japanese dashi stock or unsalted chicken or beef stock and 1 can of diced tomato( preferably fire roasted). The direction on the roux box usually says water but I use stock to give more flavor. Use unsalted stock. Use just enough stock to cover the meat.
Once it starts to boil, skim off the scum. Reduce the heat to low-medium, simmer until the meat gets tender. If you are using chicken thigh, it takes only 5 minutes but if you use pork or beef, it usually takes 30 minutes or longer to make it tender. If you simmer for a long time and the stock evaporates, add more stock to cover the meat.
After a while, if you see too much fat floats to the surface, remove it with a ladle.
A little before you finish cooking meat, saute carrots and mushrooms for 1- 2 minutes with medium heat using a pan on the side. Add to the curry pot.
Simmer 5 minutes with the mushrooms and carrots. Add curry roux and mix.
Simmer another 5 minutes. If the curry sauce is too thick, add more stock/water. If it’s too watery, add more curry roux.
If you want to add extra veggies like cabbage, red bell pepper, zucchini, green beans… which don’t require to be simmered, saute in a pan with a small amount of oil, add curry into the pan and cook 1-3 minute and serve. You will get a nice, crunchy texture with those veggies.
Pork bone broth
When we went grocery shopping, they were selling 7 pounds of bone-in pork shoulder, so I bought it. I removed the meat from the bone, and used the bone for broth. I used 1/3 of the meat for this curry and the rest for other cooking. (I’ll post those recipes soon!)
How to make pork bone broth
1. In a large pot, bring water to boil. Add pork bone and let it boil again. Discard the water with a colander.
2. Combine pork, a couple of slices of ginger, several stalks of the green part of green onion, 1/2 cup of sake and new water to cover the pork in the pot.
3. Turn the heat high, skim scum, reduce the heat to low-medium and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Remove pork bone, sliced ginger and green onion and use the stock for curry.