Japanese Curry with Chicken

Other than Chinese curry, Japanese curry has to be the one curry I eat the most. It is very common in Hong Kong. You can find it in a lot of fusion cafes or Japanese restaurants. I like that Japanese curry is a bit sweet and not spicy, but with tons of flavors. This is definitely my kind of comfort food!

Before I have found this recipe from Just One Cookbook, I always make my Japanese curry with only the curry blocks. I didn’t know that I should build up more flavors with onion, ginger, garlic, apple and honey. Those ingredients make the curry so much better with layers of flavors. Hearty, sweet, comforting and warm….. Just too hard to resist! Even though there are more works and steps to this recipe than cooking with a curry block, it is so worth it at the end! Enjoy!

Japanese Curry with Chicken (Adapted from Just One Cookbook)

3 servings

Ingredients:

–   1½ pound boneless skinless chicken thighs

–   1 carrot (peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces)

–   1 medium onion (chopped into wedges)

–   2 red potatoes or 1 russet potato (peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes)

–   ¾ teaspoon grated ginger

–   1 clove garlic (minced)

–   2¼ cups water

–   ½ Fuji apple

–   ½ tablespoon honey

–   1 teaspoon salt, plus more

–   3.5-ounce Japanese curry roux blocks

–   1 tablespoon soy sauce

–   ½ tablespoon ketchup

–   ground black pepper

–   4 cups cooked hot steamed rice

–   3 soft boiled eggs (optional)

Directions:

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Remove extra fat and cut into 1½-inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a medium bowl, soak the potato cubes in water for about 15 minutes.
3. In large pot over medium heat, heat the oil. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Add the ginger, garlic and chicken. Mix well and cook until the chicken is no longer pink on the outside. Stir in the carrot. Add the water and bring to a boil. Skim the excess fat.
4. Peel the apple, cut into wedges and coarsely grate half of the apple into the chicken mixture. Add the honey and salt. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add 2 curry blocks to the mixture and let them dissolve. Continue with the rest of the blocks. Add soy sauce and ketchup.
6. Turn back on the heat to low heat. Simmer until the curry has thickened, stirring occasionally. If the curry is too thick, add some water. Transfer the curry to serving plates along with hot steamed rice. Top with an egg if using. Serve immediately.

Tips:

1. Apple makes the curry sweet. Do not skip.
2. For the curry roux blocks, I usually use medium spicy level, which is not really spicy at all. Just keep in mind that Japanese curry spicy level is not like Thai or Indian curry. It is much more mild.
3. This curry is great for next day lunch.
4. If you are interested to make your own curry roux, check out Just One Cookbook’s recipe. I have tried it once. It was great!

Source: Read