Japanese Curry Rice (カレーライス) is different to other curries in the world. It can be spicy but rather sweet flavoured so kids and adults can enjoy.
What’s in Japanese Curry?
What do you put in Japanese curry depends on what style of curry you’re making.
The most common ingredients are beef, carrots, onions and potatoes.
The beef can be replaced with pork or chicken.
Additional or vegetables that you can replace with the above common vegetables include mushrooms, beans, eggplants, and many others.
Toppings for Japanese Curry
Often, Japanese curry is eaten with toppings.
Pickles – pickles such as onion pickles or radish pickles are popular
Cheese – cheese is melted on top of curry to give milky flavour
Tonkatsu – adding tonkatsu on top turns curry into Katsu Curry. This is a popular topping and you will see this dish in restaurants in Japan.
Tofu – vegetarians prefer to have tofu instead of meat
Popular Japanese Curry Powder Blocks
You can buy these curry blocks to make your own at home.
Vermont Curry バーモントカレー
Kokumaro Curry こくまろカレー
Golden Curry ゴールデンカレー
Java Curry ジャワカレー
How to cook Japanese Curry
This is a recipe for the traditional Japanese curry using the block of curry powder. Please note the amount of ingredients and water will vary depending on which brand you use and how much curry you are making.
- Cut beef, carrots, onions and potatoes into one bit size (about 3cm x 3cm blocks)
- Heat up frypan or pot and cook beef
- Once the beef is about rare, add all the vegetables and stir-fry
- When the beef and vegetables are cooked, add water
- Put the fire to low and let it simmer for 10-15mins until the vegetable is soft. It is easy to check this by trying to cut a potato with spoon or fork. If you can easily cut then it’s ready
- Turn off the fire. Add block of curry and mix well. Once the curry powder block is mixed, the water will become thicker
- It’s done. If you leave the curry for 1-2hrs (or longer), the flavour will go into the ingredients and will taste much better