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Growing up, we never ate Japanese curry at home. We always made it Southeast Asian style, with coconut cream, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. I didn’t think I was missing out on much, until Jimmy made Japanese curry. A rough list of ingredients below:
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 package medium tofu, diced
½ cup frozen peas
2 large potatoes, cooked and diced
2 ½ cups water
1 package Glico brand curry sauce
1. Sauté garlic and onions in vegetable oil on medium-high heat.
2. When the garlic and onions become fragrant, add the chicken breast.
3. Cook chicken breast through, about 5 minutes.
4. Add tofu, peas, potatoes, and water. Bring to a boil.
5. Break up curry blocks into small chunks. Add to pot.
6. Stir thoroughly, but gently to keep the tofu intact.
7. Turn down to a simmer. Simmer without the lid for half an hour. Sauce will thicken as the water begins to evaporate.
8. Serve with steamed, white rice.
There are directions on the back of the box, but I never follow directions closely. It’s a fool-proof recipe, as long as you don’t burn the bottom of the curry. Yuckers.
I expected some sort of sickly sweet curry, for some reason. I suppose I dismissed Japanese curry because it doesn’t have coconut cream – my favourite part. Japanese-style curry tastes closer to Indian-style curry. The spices were stronger, most notably the cumin. It was suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper good!
I had also never eaten tofu in curry before, and it ended up being my favourite part of the curry. Talk about surprising!
The sauce was creamy and thick, perfect for the rice. Personally, I think the consistency of the sauce is just as important as the taste. The flour in the curry sauce block did its job well. Yay, flour!
This is a dish that improves the next day. I had a small bowl for lunch today, and the flavours really matured overnight. The curry taste only lingered on the tip of the tongue yesterday, while today, it spread all over my mouth. I was in curry heaven! And the tofu! Oh, I love tofu that’s been stewed. Yummy gelatinous blobs of non-meat substance!
The only thing that disappointed me was the spiciness. The box says that it’s spicy, but I didn’t feel the burn at all. Maybe I’ll add some minced Thai chili next time. I’ll have to play around with the ingredients a bit, but it’s definitely something I’d make again. Now I understand what the hype is about in Japanese anime. Japanese curry is a new favourite!
Fin.
I'd love to make this but I can't find any curry blocks anywhere D=.
ReplyDeleteI've only been able to find them in Asian food stores. If you have one nearby, you might be in luck!
ReplyDeleteThere are places like larger food stores (24 hr shops) that have a large Asian community... we have the Hmong here, so we get a fair deal of Asian cuisine requests at the regular stores. heck, even our little grocery stores/corner markets sell pocky. If you can't find any Asian specific food stores, look for areas more heavily populated with Asians. The food stores in those areas will likely have it, even if your version of the store does not.
ReplyDeleteNow that T&T is owned by Loblaws, I believe you can now find curry blocks at Lowblaws - correct me if I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteYes, the curry blocks are becoming easier to find in regular grocery stores if you're in a larger city, though your best bet in a small town like Kingston is still an Asian market.
ReplyDelete