Japanese style curry

I lived in Japan in 1984-85 and ate a lot of simple foods that were easy to prepare. We bought pre-mixed curry in a box and fixed it with meat and vegetables.

I've been looking for a curry powder that matches the taste of the Japanese curry but all of the ones I try are more on the Indian or Thai style. Please help with spices and cooking.

Hoss

Devin, What about this one? The garam will still have Cumin in it though?

For those that have never had Japanese curry, this dish is chock full of big tender chunks of meat and potatoes, all covered in a slightly sweet sauce that’s redolent of caramelized onions, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg.



http://norecipes.com/karei-raisu-japanese-curry-rice/

DevinT said:

I lived in Japan in 1984-85 and ate a lot of simple foods that were easy to prepare. We bought pre-mixed curry in a box and fixed it with meat and vegetables.

I've been looking for a curry powder that matches the taste of the Japanese curry but all of the ones I try are more on the Indian or Thai style. Please help with spices and cooking.

Hoss

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i am almost positive the ones you find in the curry donburi is made from a curry that comes in block form. you melt it into your cooked food. i have some. there are two popular brands that they use.

S&B golden curry roux mix. !! email me if you cant find any. we have it EVERYWHERE here..

oh..you lived in Japan?!! the stuff i suggested might be what us hacks in the USA uses..

Japanese home cooks usually use the curry roux.

I like the House blend. I usually add fresh apple sauce and apple cubes (crunchy and sweet apples like gala or honey crisp work the best). I also put in ketchup and tonkatsu sauce. I know some people swear by chocolate, but its not for me.

The S&B curry blocks are what you want. No place out here where you cannot get that, big staple in Hawaii... If you don't find it locally, you can order it from Amazon. Comes in mild, medium and spicy (which I find to be on the mild side...). Don't forget to add veggies to the curry, they are good for you

Stefan

P.S. Mari was quicker I like applesauce or apples in there also. Chocolate sounds weird, would that be dark chocolate?

The curry blocks are what they use in Japan (and Korea) as well, not just in the lazy West.

Around here, most Vietnamese and Chinese grocery stores will have a range of Japanese/Korean stuff, and usually have the curry blocks. Korean grocery stores will have it. I assume our Japanese ones have it as well, but we have far fewer of those.

The ancestor of Japanese curry is the old-style non-Indian English curry, meat and veges with a curry powder flavoured gravy.

I use the curry blocks and love them. They don't seem to be any different than the ones in Japan. I was hoping to find a powder that was close so that I could make my own roux.

Hoss

Hoss, The S&B and House brand blocks are pretty much standard and are available in mild, medium, hot and something called "Vermont style" :scratchhead: Everyone has their own little variations; we usually add a bit of S&B curry powder and a ripe banana.
There is a commercial product that isn't in block form. P/M me your address, I'll send you some to play around with.

Stick with the s&b; I am Korean btw. I like to mix 3 parts light 1 park dark curry blocks. Deglaze with Kirin beer and use fresh chicken stock, lots of butter is good.

apicius9 said:

The S&B curry blocks are what you want. No place out here where you cannot get that, big staple in Hawaii... If you don't find it locally, you can order it from Amazon. Comes in mild, medium and spicy (which I find to be on the mild side...). Don't forget to add veggies to the curry, they are good for you

Stefan

P.S. Mari was quicker I like applesauce or apples in there also. Chocolate sounds weird, would that be dark chocolate?

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I know right? It's a pretty popular additive, but I don't really understand how it contributes to how it tastes. Japanese families tend to all have their own style, and a lot of people (including myself) take pride in their family curry. Which thinking about it is kind of funny since its store bought roux. LOL

Oh man, but second day curry is the BEST. Just never lasts that long... Second day curry heated with newly added fresh apple cubes... MMMM SO GOOD.

If you want powder, try the Korean ones. They taste similar to Japanese curry but not as sweet as the House or S&B brand blocks. Like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ATOEXSW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Powders can be cheaper than blocks but I like the Japanese blocks better. It tastes better and easier to cook IMO. I am Korean too BTW.

Korin_Mari said:

Oh man, but second day curry is the BEST. Just never lasts that long...

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You remind me of Japanese manga "Shinya Shokudo (Midnight Diners)" by Abe Yaro. There was an episode about second day curry there. I had to cook House curry the next day after reading it. I'm not sure if there is English version available but I'd highly recommend this manga to anyone.

PHEW!!

i thought i was hanging it out there suggesting a roux block to a bunch of pro chefs...

my mom used to make it with chicken wingslets..yeeyowza!! add potato and carrotts.

my wife, she HATES it. she said she ate it straight for a week cuz she made a huge pot..now she cannot even really handle the smell. i still make it tho.

i made a pot of it at deer hunting camp once. we had a generator so my brother made rice with a rice cooker. those guys inhaled it..!!

yikes, i really despise the ottogi curry, especially the heat and serve packets.

As ecchef said we have S & B powder in a can. PM me if you want me to send some too. It's very mild as curry goes!

panda said:

yikes, i really despise the ottogi curry, especially the heat and serve packets.

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Lol. Yep, so it's only if it has to be in powder. I havent seen any House or s&p curry powder around where i live. But who knows? If you add some apple juice, it might become nicer.

Speaking of Japanese curry, anybody ever been at CoCo Ichi in Japan?
Is there anyway to find out how they make their base?

jsjs103121 said:

If you add some apple juice, it might become nicer.

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Well, I wanted to try it myself (it's been so long since I tried this last time) so I picked up a 1kg pack of Ottogi curry powder on my way home and made a small pot for dinner. I put some efforts trying to make it taste better but wasn't as good as House or S&B at all. My wife and kids still liked it though.
If I try few more times, I might be able to make it better by adding more spices. In fact, I don't have any other choice because I still have 900g left which is enough for 45 people...

Anyway, I must admit that recommending Ottogi curry powder was not a good idea :spankarse:

This has been my experience, try a curry powder and it is just not the same, not bad but not what I was looking for.

Hoss

So I found some S&B today at the Korean market. They had mild, medium, hot and extra hot. Got the med., hot and X hot. The Dutch oven is quietly simmering as I write this.

Although this is my first time cooking a Japanese Curry Rice, I'm the first one to say, it's always best practice to cook NEW recipe by following classic tradition before improvising, Im rebelling today and going the creative route.

I changed a couple of things to the box recommended basic recipe.

After browning the marinated beef in bacon fat, I added a sofritto made of onion, garlic, red pepper, cilantro, tomato then deglazed that pan with a Budweiser.

I'm considering finishing the curry with a little diced fresh pineapple and sweet green pepper.

Let us know how it turned out.

Hoss

Devin came out decent flavor wise. Next time I'll reduce the liquid a bit more as it was a little thin.

Looks great!!
Next time when I make curry, I will try your method with some more spices like ginger, cinnamon, star anise and dried chilli.

Looks so good!! I've never heard of pineapple in curry. How was it?

I've tried curry with apple, mango or coconuts milk but never with pineapple. very interesting creation!! anyone love curry should read Japanese manga series "Addicted to Curry (華麗なる食&#21331". many interesting curry recipes inside.

cclin said:

I've tried curry with apple, mango or coconuts milk but never with pineapple. very interesting creation!! anyone love curry should read Japanese manga series "Addicted to Curry (華麗なる食&#21331". many interesting curry recipes inside.

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OMG THAT TITLE. :rofl: The Japanese title is a pun with the word 華麗 (karei as in magnificent) and　カレー (kare~ as in curry).

I never knew this manga existed, but that's awesome. I have to find it now. I love puns!

Friend of mine (Sushi Chef) gave me some S&B Golden Curry. It's what his family ate at home in Japan. You can buy it on Amazon, if I can dig it out, I'll mail it to you Devin.

[video=youtube;inwfwocUALw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inwfwocUALw[/video]

Thanks Talim, that was interesting. I watched the whole thing. At the end it said that you get smarter and will loose weight by eating curry. Gotta get me some curry. Brought back lots of great memories.

Hoss