Japanese Curry Recipe from Scratch _ Asian Recipes

**Japanese Curry from Scratch: A Homestyle Recipe by Pai**

Welcome to Pai’s Kitchen! Today, we’re diving into the art of creating a homemade Japanese curry from scratch. If you’ve ever opened a packet of that convenient Japanese curry sauce mix, you might have wondered, *what exactly is in this?* and whether it’s possible to craft it yourself. The answer? A resounding yes! Not only is it possible, but it also offers the advantage of tailoring the flavor precisely to your taste buds.

### Ingredients You’ll Need

- **Meat (or Protein):** Beef chuck (or any meat of your choice)

- **Vegetables:** Onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, potatoes

- **Culinary Staples:** Apple puree, tomato paste, curry powder, Japanese soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce (optional), beef stock

- **Thickening Agent:** Flour and butter for roux

- **Extras:** Peas or any preferred vegetables

### Step-by-Step Guide to Making Your Curry

#### 1. Preparing the Meat

Start by seasoning your chosen meat with a pinch of salt. For this recipe, we’re using beef chuck, a cut that delivers tender, flavorful results when simmered. Browning the beef is crucial—it enhances the flavor profile and ensures a richer finished dish.

> *Note:* While browning all sides of the beef is ideal, even browning just 2-3 sides will suffice if your patience is limited.

#### 2. Sautéing Aromatics

Next, sauté onions, garlic, and ginger until they become soft and translucent. This step releases their aromatic oils, forming the base of our curry’s flavor.

#### 3. Incorporating Tomato Paste

Before adding any liquids, cook the tomato paste in high heat for a few minutes. This step transforms the metallic edge of store-bought tomato paste into a rich, umami-laden component that elevates your dish.

#### 4. Toasting the Curry Powder

Add your curry powder and let it toast for about a minute. This blooming process releases the spices’ essential oils, infusing your curry with deep, complex flavors. Be cautious of burning; adjust the heat as needed.

#### 5. Adding Liquid and Seasonings

Pour in beef stock (ensure it’s unsalted for maximum control over seasoning) along with apple puree and soy sauce. The apple puree serves as a natural sweetener and thickening agent, while Japanese soy sauce adds depth without overpowering the dish.

> *Pro Tip:* If you prefer, collect small sushi soy sauce packets to use in this recipe.

Optional: Stir in Worcestershire sauce for an extra layer of brightness.

#### 6. Simmering the Beef

Return the beef to the pot and let everything simmer together. The duration varies by protein:

- **Beef:** Simmer for about 2 hours until fork-tender.

- **Chicken or Pork:** Requires less time, around 30 minutes to an hour.

#### 7. Adding Vegetables

Classically, carrots and potatoes are the stars of Japanese curry. Russet potatoes are recommended for their creamy texture when cooked. Feel free to add other vegetables like peas for a pop of color and freshness.

#### 8. Thickening with Roux

If your curry sauce is still thin after simmering, prepare a roux:

- Melt butter in a small pan.

- Stir in all-purpose flour and cook until the mixture reaches your desired shade—white, blonde, or brown. This not only thickens the sauce but also adds nuttiness.

> *Note:* For convenience, you can use a flour slurry instead of roux, though roux offers an extra flavor boost.

#### 9. Adjusting and Serving

Taste the curry and adjust seasoning as needed—perhaps with a dash more soy sauce or a sprinkle of salt. Garnish with fresh herbs if desired and serve over Japanese rice.

### Final Touches

For a traditional touch, accompany your curry with Japanese pickles, such as *fugu Shinsegae*. These pickles, often red due to shiso leaves, provide a nice textural contrast to the rich curry.

### Conclusion

Making Japanese curry from scratch is a labor of love that pays off in spades. It offers the satisfaction of homemade cooking and allows you to customize flavors to your liking. Pair it with rice and pickles, and enjoy a meal that feels both familiar and freshly crafted.

Ready to give this a try? Share your culinary creations with Pai on social media—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat. And don’t forget to subscribe for more delicious adventures in the kitchen!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone welcome to pai's kitchen now hands up if anyone has ever used one of these now if you  don't know what this is this is a Japanese curry sauce mix sort of like a curry paste basically  you add meat vegetables water and there you have a Japanese curry now I used to love this I still  do and I use this all the time until one day recently it occurred to me wait a minute what is  actually in this thing and could I actually just make it all from scratch and it turns out that  I can and it's not that hard it's only a little bit more work in prepping a few ingredients but  the rest is pretty much the same so I'm super excited to share it with you because then you  can actually make it to suit your taste exactly so let's get started you can use whatever kind  of meat you want if you want to use meat you can also do this with tofu or with no protein at all  okay so I'm using beef because I love the flavor of beef with this and I'm using chuck which is  the best cut for stew it cooks out to be nice and tender and flavorful I'm going to just salt it a  little bit so that the beef has some flavor inside with the other ingredients I've got  here apple puree now I know the color does not look anything like an apple puree but when you  puree an apple it oxidizes really quickly so it just turns really Brown but it's actually quite  common to use apples as a sweetener in Japanese cuisine for curry powder now for this recipe you  can use whatever kind of curry powder that you have that you like however if you want to get  the flavor as close to the Japanese curry blocks as possible you might want to look for Japanese  curry powder SMB brand is pretty classic so the secret ingredient not that secret is tomato paste  and this is not going to make the curry taste tomatoey at all but what it will do is give a  rich umami lift because tomato paste is packed full of natural glutamate which is what MSG is  so don't skip it this makes a big difference all right now for seasoning I am using here Japanese  soy sauce okay and Japanese soy sauce does taste different from Thai Chinese or Korean  soy sauces so you can get one of these they come in small bottles you don't have to buy a big one  or you can just collect those sushi soy sauce packets until you've got enough okay the next  ingredient the next seasoning is worse - sure sauce where's your sauce however you say it it's  such a difficult word and it's a vinegary sauce that really brightens the flavor of this curry  I would say you could probably get away with skipping it if you don't want to buy a whole  bottle and then never use it again but if you've got one in your fridge already definitely a nice  addition okay so I'm going to start by browning the beef because browning is flavor and you're  going to want to brown the beef anyway even if you're using the curry blocks and it doesn't  tell you to do that in the package instructions but trust me it makes a difference if you don't  hear the sizzle it's not hot enough and you don't want to crowd the pot now you're feeling hardcore  you can you know go and flip them all and get all six sides brown but I only have enough patience  for about two to three sides and I'm like alright that's enough all right so that's done now I'm  going to keep that pot because all that brown stuff in the pot is flavor and I'm going to add  onions garlic and ginger and we're just going to sauté it until they become soft and translucent so  once things are softened up I'm going to add the tomato paste now I like to cook my tomato paste in  some high heat before I add it too before I add any liquid because there's this tinny metallic  flavor in tomato paste that seems to go away if you sautee it and it also almost sweetened  the tomato paste a little bit just makes it so much better I'm going to add my curry powder  so give the curry powder just about a minute to toast bloom all the flavor of the spices if it's  getting a little dry you can add a little bit of oil to help lubricate and at this point just watch  your heat because spices powder spices can burn quite easily I can really smell it in the air now  I'm going to go in with my liquid which is beef stock now I am actually using store-bought beef  stock for this because Thor bought stock has a nice brown color because they make a brown  stock and it's a lot of work to make a brown beef stock at home but make sure that when you buy it  it is unsalted not low-sodium not thirty percent less salt unsalted you want all the salt to come  from the soy sauce which will add more flavor if you use salted stock now you won't be able to add  hardly any soy sauce before it becomes too salty the apple puree goes in so this is our sweetening  agent and also it will help thicken the sauce now all my seasoning is also going to go in at this  point and then the beef goes back in now I'm going to let this simmer and stew now for two  hours before add my vegetables if you're using chicken or pork it's not going to take as long  and I'll include all the details in the written recipe in the meantime we'll be right back so  this point the beef has been simmering for about two hours it is almost at the point where it's  fork-tender ok we're going to add some vegetables to it classically it's always carrots and potatoes  I prefer russet potato which is a starchy potato which cooks up to be sort of creamy right if you  use a new potato or a potato it's going to be a little firmer and I find in stews it doesn't  absorb flavor quite as well and I really like that creamy texture now this just has to cook  for another half an hour it's looking a little thin so what we're going to do is make a roux  to help thicken it so a roux is a classic French method of thickening a soup or stew or a sauce in  fact a lot of people call this stuff a curry roux like curry flavored roux because there is flour  in here that helps thicken your curry but it's really easy to make it's just flour and butter  okay so I'm gonna just melt some butter in here and it's unsalted now if you're feeling lazy and  you don't want to make a roux you can just make a flour slurry and add it to your curry and thicken  it that way however making a roux will add extra flavor so once the butter is all melted I'm going  to add in the flour and this is just all-purpose flour and that's it pick up that's the root now  you want to cook this though so that the flour no longer has that raw flour taste so give it a  few minutes you can leave it like this and it's called a white roux make it a little more dark  this called a blonde roux and it adds a little extra flavor some people push it really dark  and they make a brown Roux which ass even more flavor okay so it's starting to darken a little  bit so I'm going to I'm happy with that I can smell the nuttiness I'm going to turn off the  heat and now this can just sit until we're ready to use it so the potatoes are cooked and soft and  tender and creamy and when you weren't looking I stirred in some peas because you know I like  pops of green in my food and I left peace so you don't have to do it though now at this point I  do want to thicken my curry a little bit see how it's it's thickened but it's still a little runny  now you don't have to add all the root okay so it completely depends on how thick you want it so I'm  going to start with just about half and see where we're at and because the flours coat it in the  butter it won't clump do you want to stir that in and you bring it to a simmer so that the roux has  a chance to work and I love it when the potatoes start to lose their edges because they're getting  a little bit mushy that's perfect and now taste and adjust mmm mmm mmm I think I'm gonna add a  little more soy sauce but then I think we're good to go so always serve this with rice and of course  I've got Japanese rice in my plate here Oh mm-hmm because this is quite rich the Japanese like to  serve a little bit of pickles to go along with it and the classic pickle that gets served with  curry rice is something called fugu Shinsegae it's a mixture of different vegetables radishes  lotus root a bunch of stuff in there and it's red because of shiso leaves however not all of it is  red I've had some where it's sort of a yellowish and those work as well so it's just sort of up to  you it's widely available at Japanese grocery stores they've got tons of pickles to choose  from and the red ones a nice color contrast as well look how cute that is let's beginhmm oh that beef is so tender I have to say as much as I love my curry block this just  takes it to a whole nother level it's really hard to describe but there's something about  it but tastes fresh you eat that and you know it was made from scratch that it didn't come  from a premade box and you just feel so proud of it you know you just love this so much more when  you know you made it and that flavor there's no other curry box that can replicate the flavor  of home-cooked meal so I hope you give this a try it's so so good the recipe will be on  hot Thai Kitchen calm and when you make it please send me a photo on Facebook Twitter  or Instagram and I'm also now on snapchat so follow me on snapchat and subscribe to  the show if you haven't done so and I will see you next time for your next delicious  adventure you can use whatever kind you want chicken beef pork shrimp elk moose alligator  alligator squirrels rabbits tofu meatballs tofurkey have I covered everything you use\n"