Japanese Curry

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten proper authentic Japanese Curry; I’ve only read about what is is and how to make it, so I can only imagine the correct flavour. But here is how I do it and I enjoy the result nonetheless. I will sample the authentic flavour one day and adjust if needed.

It’s an interesting dish to learn to cook and there are some skills you can learn along the way if you follow this.

Don’t try to make this all in one go.

The beef

I start by preparing the beef to a certain point, then refrigerate it until I need to make the dish in the pot.

I buy relatively cheap cuts of beef, dice them quite thick, and end up with 500g to 1 kg of cubes. Then I place them in a slow cooker, cover with water and slow cook for 6 to 8 hours (no more, otherwise it gets too soft and flavourless.). I then strain the water off and reserve it. Refrigerate both the beef and the stock.

The Filler

On the day of dinner, I start a few hours in advance.

Prepare some carrot, onion and potato (exact amounts don’t matter):

The Roux

I then melt 50 g of butter in a pot, and then add an equal amount of flour by weight.

Keep stirring and cooking, at least a couple of minutes (cooks the flour and it will smell like cookies). Longer if you want it darker. It’s up to you.

Here’s my reserved beef stock with hardened tallow (beef fat) on the surface. I used about 2/3 of this volume. Slowly add to the roux and mix:

Keep adding water and cooking:

The Curry Powder

You could make your own powder mix, but there’s no point. This one is one of the “ancient” traditional brands and it’s cheap. I use about 2 tablespoons.

Other flavours

Don’t forget to salt it to perfection.

There are many variations, but most include adding some sweetness. Either a tablespoon of honey and/or grated apple, banana, chocolate, you know, weird Japanese stuff.

Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce (sourness) and some homemade passata (tomato sauce), or you can use some ketchup as is traditional I believe (weird).

My passata has some sweetness and that was enough for me; I don’t add fruits or honey.