Japanese curry rice – Kare Raisu

I rarely ever eat curry because it’s just not my thing but ONE type of curry that I can’t resist is…Japanese curry! Sigh, I’ve fallen in love with it ever since I had it in Japan last summer. I’ve been meaning to make it ever since. I emphasize on the “meaning to” part because I haven’t gotten around to it until…now…so a whole year later.

I’ve always thought that curry was super complicated to make because of the amount of spices and seasonings it has in it but…apparently it’s actually pretty darn easy! I sort of want to kick myself now because had I known that it was this simple from the beginning, I would of been able to eat this delicious dish much MUCH MUCH earlier. I mean doesn’t it just look heavenly???  

I’ve never used or bought Japanese curry roux before from the store so I didn’t really know which heat to pick so I went with medium because it seemed like it would be the safest bet and it turns out that it wasn’t spicy enough for me at all!

I also don’t typically eat or use meat in my cooking because I’m a pescatarian and all, but I just had to use chicken for this one because 1) it would lack a bit of authenticity otherwise and 2) both brother deer and old bean are meat eaters and I wanted to be considerate. I ended up making a big ol’ pot of it for the three of us so we can have it for a few days since curry only gets better in the proceeding days because everything has been soaking in deliciousness for many hours on end! 🙂

Ingredients (makes 8-10 servings)

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil of choice
• 1 onion sliced thinly
  2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 250g medium firm tofu cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 Japanese carrot or 2 regular carrots
• 6 yellow potatoes or 2 russet potatoes
• 4 cups of water
• 1 box of store bought Japanese curry roux (I used the one from Glico in medium)
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 tablespoon worsheshire sauce

Cook cook cook away!

1. Pour your oil into a medium sized stew pot and add in your ginger, garlic, and onions. Cook them until they are lightly browned.  

2. Add in the chicken or tofu and cook until it’s no longer pink and lightly browned

3. While you are waiting for the chicken or tofu to brown/cook, slice your potatoes and carrots into bite sized pieces. For variation in shape, I decided to cut the carrots into triangles and the potatoes into crescent shapes

4. Add in the carrots and water

5. Skim the fat/foam from the top of your pot as they float up and reduce the heat to low. Let this simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.  

6. Add in the potatoes and let it cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

7. Take your pot off the heat and break up the curry cubes into the pot and stir until it incorporates and melts. Then put the pot back on heat and stir in the soy sauce, ketchup and Worcestershire. Let this simmer for 8 – 10 minutes until it thickens up to the consistency you like

8. Serve delicious curry over rice or quinoa