Japanese Curry with Homemade Curry Cubes
This easy Japanese curry recipe is one of my favorite curries, it's the curry made in every single Japanese household, and the store-bought roux packages are the secret. But I understand you maybe can't find those packages, so here's how to make the curry cubes yourself. Trust me, they don't look appetizing, but they're the most flavorful flavor bomb you've used in your life.
Ingredients
- 28 g S&B curry powder (or your own curry powder mix)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp MSG
- 100 g softened butter
- 100 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp celery salt (or regular salt)
- 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed (4 or 5 if you like, personal taste)
- 4 slices ginger, minced
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
- a good knob butter
- 1 chicken or veggie stock cube
- 500 ml hot water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/2 apple, peeled and grated
- to taste chicken (or beef slices, or tofu for a vegetarian option), cut in cubes
- a few spring onions, cut up, for garnish
- to taste salt
- 1 part washed sushi rice
- 1.2 parts water
Method
- 1
Make the spice mix: combine the curry powder, garlic powder, chili powder, mustard powder, black pepper, celery salt, sugar and MSG, and mix well.
- 2
Melt the 100 g butter in a pan and add the spices, this turns your house into flavor town with the smell that's released.
- 3
Mix in the flour and let it cook for a minute or so. This flour-butter combination is a roux, a basic chef's technique behind all kinds of sauces, soups and curry pastes.
- 4
Line a container with parchment paper, dump in the paste and press it firmly into an even, flat layer. Fridge for at least an hour to solidify, or freeze to keep it longer.
- 5
Slice the onions, smash the garlic, mince the ginger. You don't have to be precise with amounts here, a bit more of one ingredient than another is fine.
- 6
Cut the carrots by quarter-turning them between each cut, the standard Japanese cutting style for stews. Cube the potatoes and the chicken to a similar size so everything cooks evenly.
- 7
Grate the half apple to dust and set aside. That's right, apple, it's a must in this dish and it makes the taste of this curry.
- 8
Melt a good knob of butter in a large pan and sauté the onions until translucent, then add the ginger and garlic.
- 9
Toss in the stock cube and add the 500 ml hot water.
- 10
Add the carrots and potatoes, then the soy sauce, ketchup and honey. Mix, and stir in the grated apple.
- 11
Add your protein now (raw chicken can go straight in the pan earlier with the onions; if you grilled it on the side, just let it simmer along in the curry).
- 12
Simmer 20 minutes, or until a toothpick pokes through a potato easily.
- 13
Push 5 cubes (80–90 g / 3 oz) of the curry block through a fine-mesh strainer into the pot and mix. Watch the dish get thicker, juicier and glossier by the second, very satisfying.
- 14
Simmer another 5 minutes on low, stirring occasionally so the bottom doesn't burn. Salt to taste.
- 15
Meanwhile cook the rice: 1 part washed rice, 1.2 parts water in the rice cooker.
- 16
Plate the curry next to the rice and top with spring onions.
10 tools I used.
Some links are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.