In a country where you can get everything from hamburgers to lady's undergarments out of a vending machine, it's no surprise that home cooks have many convenient options when cooking a meal. For some dishes like Japanese curry (カレーライス - karei raisu), pre-made mixes have become the norm rather than the exception, and a trip to the supermarket will reveal an entire section of boxed curry mixes.
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Why My Recipe Works
- Good Japanese restaurant curry's comes from caramelizing onions and other aromatics. I build layers of flavors in this recipe, first by browning the chicken, then caramelizing garlic and ginger before going in with onions and carrots.
- The characteristic sweetness of Japanese chicken curry is created by adding fruit and sugar in most recipes. This version uses apple, which provides a nice sweetness and helps thicken the curry sauce. Be sure to choose a sweet variety of apple or your curry will taste sour.
- Japanese curry is usually thickened with flour and fat roux, but my version of homemade curry rice is thickened with vegetables and fruit, making it healthier than most.
- Kakushiaji (隠し味) means "hidden taste," and it's a cooking technique where you add a tiny quantity of a contrasting ingredient to improve the dish's taste. For this Japanese Chicken Curry I add cocoa powder. It may sound odd, but it's one of the secrets for getting an earthy depth of flavor, making it taste like it's been simmering for hours.
Convenience over Flavor
Instant curry mixes usually take the form of bricks that look a bit like bulbous chocolate bars and are loaded with saturated fat, MSG and preservatives. But as much as I want to call this junk food, it's a comfort food I grew up on, and it could easily be called the national dish of Japanese home cooking. That's why I've been working on my recipe for Japanese curry from scratch for the past dozen years. It may take a little more effort than using the packaged variety, but it doesn't require any extra time, and involves only a handful of additional ingredients.
So What Exactly is Japanese Curry?
Like many foods in Japan, curry worked its way into the Japanese culinary repertoire from abroad. The prevailing theory is that the British introduced it as a cheap way of feeding troops en masse and that these soldiers brought their newly acquired taste for this un-Japanese blend of pungent spices home with them.
Today, curry has become a staple of the Japanese home, that's enjoyed by people of all ages. It's thicker and sweeter than most other curries of the world and has a depth of flavor that's unique, thanks to an ample dose of caramelized onions. With big hunks of tender meat, carrots, and potatoes, it's more like a hearty stew than a typical curry.
The Secret to Making Curry
Ask any chef at one of the many famed curry houses in Japan, and they'll tell you that the key to a really great Japanese curry is in the caramelized onions. The onions not only add a ton of umami and flavor to the curry, they also provide the characteristic sweetness without using sugar. For a more detailed explanation on caramelized onions, check out my post on caramelizing onions
Japanese Curry Powder
Also, after years of experimenting with different curry powders and garam masalas, I've come to the conclusion that the most consistent way to get the right blend of spices is to use a Japanese curry powder, such as S&B brand. You can usually find it at Asian supermarkets but Amazon also carries it. A fews years back I cracked the code for making Japanese curry powder from scratch using a curry spice set from Gaban, so if you're curious, you can read about it in this recipe, How to Make Japanese Curry Powder.
Recipe
Japanese Curry from Scratch
Equipment
- 1 Spatula
Ingredients
- 550 grams boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 14 grams garlic (~2 large cloves, grated)
- 14 grams fresh ginger (~½-inch piece, grated)
- 500 grams onion (2 large onions, thinly sliced)
- 3 tablespoons Japanese curry powder (Japanese brand such as S&B)
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 300 grams carrots (~ 2 carrots, cut into chunks)
- ½ medium apple (peeled, cored and grated)
- 2 tablespoons chunou sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 350 grams potatoes (~2 medium potatoes cut into large chunks)
- ½ cup frozen green peas
- 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Instructions
Why it works- Clean any large bits of fat or tendon from the 550 grams boneless skinless chicken thighs and cut into large chunks. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper and mix to distribute evenly.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering and then add the chicken in a single layer. Let the chicken brown undisturbed (about 5 minutes). Flip the chicken and let it brown on the other side.
- Turn down the heat to medium-low and transfer the chicken to a bowl using tongs, making sure to leave as much oil in the pan as possible.
- Add the grated 14 grams garlic and 14 grams fresh ginger and fry in the oil until it's not sizzling as much and it reaches a rich caramel brown color.
- Add the 500 grams onion and stir to coat with oil. Cover with a lid and let the onions steam until translucent and limp (about 10-15 minutes).
- Remove the lid, turn up the heat to medium and continue frying the onion, stirring constantly until it's reduced to about ⅛ of its original volume and it forms a shiny caramel brown paste (about 20-30 minutes). If the onion starts to stick to the pan before it's fully caramelized, try scrubbing off the stuck bits with a spatula. If that doesn't work you can add just a bit of water to the areas where things are sticking and then use the spatula to scrape.
- When the onions are fully caramelized, add the 3 tablespoons Japanese curry powder and sauté briefly until very fragrant.
- Return the chicken to the pot and then add the 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock, 300 grams carrots, grated ½ medium apple, 2 tablespoons chunou sauce, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the 350 grams potatoes, cover and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are very tender (another 15-20 minutes).
- In the meantime, make the roux by adding the 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour to a small saucepan over medium heat. Use a spatula to stir constantly until the bubbling subsides and the roux is a light brown color.
- When the potatoes are tender, taste and adjust salt to taste. If you like your curry sweeter, you can add some honey.
- Finish the curry by stirring in the roux and ½ cup frozen green peas and bringing to a boil to thicken the sauce.
- Serve with hot rice, or on top of a bowl of udon.
Nutrition Facts
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Gabriel Monette says
Thank you for the extra details! I'm really happy I was able to find bulldog brand Chunou sauce and the S&B curry powder at a specialty Japanese & Korean grocery in town. The curry powder smells simply wonderful, makes me want to make some singapore noodles! I can't wait to try the curry, I'll start by caramelizing a big batch of onions following your guide. Thanks again for everything 😀
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gabriel, yep you can adjust the cooking time to suite the meat you're using. The carrots will take about 30 minutes to cook but will be fine if you put them in earlier, however the potatoes will melt away if you put them in too soon. They should take about 15 minutes to cook, and I wouldn't leave them in for longer than 30.
Gabriel Monette says
I plan on making this recipe but I want to replace the chicken by beef, specifically cubed blade roast. I will brown the meat properly to get that nice flavor to come out but I was wondering, to really loosen and "melt" the connective tissues in the meat, would it be ok to simmer for an hour instead of 15 minutes in step 8? Perhaps longer? I'm thinking step 8 because I know carrots can retain firmness even if simmered over a long time but the potatoes from step 9 might become too tender if I cook them an extra 45 minutes. Any suggestions please let me know 🙂 thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gregg, there's a couple of things that could be going on. The first is that Japanese beef is much more heavily marbled than in the US, so the extra fat will make it more tender/moist. The second thing is that when you slow-cook meat, you're breaking down the collagen (gristle and connective tissue) into gelatin which is what lubricates the meat fibers and gives the impression of moistness. If you don't have a lot of connective tissue in the meat it will just get dried out and stay hard. This is why it's important to use a cut of meat with lots of connective tissue. Shanks probably have the most, so that's a good place to start.
Gregg S says
Hi Marc,
This looks delicious. But I wanted also to try making curry with beef. In Japan the meat is always melt in your mouth tender but cooking with USA meat, it comes out very tough. I suspect I am not cooking it slowly enough. What process is used to get the beef so tender in Japan? Can you give me any pointers? - Thanks.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Paul, I don't know what brand of sauce you're looking at, but mine (Bulldog brand) does not contain MSG. I also just checked a few other brands on Amazon and they do not contain MSG either. As for making it yourself, the easiest substitute is to make a 50/50 mix of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Not quite as fruity but you'll get a similar blend of spices.
Paul Newell says
I prefer not to use MSG when possible. Do you have a recipe for homemade chunou sauce?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jo, making it vegetarian will definitely make it taste different since the sauce gets its flavor from the chicken. That said, you could probably make a vegetarian version that tastes pretty good, but you'll need to think about other ways to get the umami taste of meat into it. Ingredients like mushrooms, konbu, tomatoes, and soy sauce are all rich in glutamic acids that stimulate the umami sensing tastebuds on your tongue.
Jo Burgess-England says
Hello, if I want to make a vegetarian version of this, would it make a big difference to the curry taste?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Niky, this is a newer version of my ever evolving curry recipe. I swapped the garam masala for Japanese curry powder because garam masala varies so much by brand, it's tough to find one that actually tastes like Japanese curry powder (which is available on Amazon in the US).
Niky Nik says
Wait--did you change the recipe? My original had garam masala and no cocoa powder, bay leaf, etc....wondering why the change?
Suzee Sunshyn says
Thank you for sharing this wonderful dish!! I'm very excited to attempt it, being a huge fan of the Japanese curry mix "bricks."
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi John, glad to hear you enjoyed it! As for the curry powder, the recipe you linked to sounds mostly right, but it's missing fenugreek, which is a key component of Japanese curry powder.
Markus NZ says
Hi Marc, I was sending the link for this recipe to someone in the family and noticed the ingredients had changed a bit. Just wanted to say we've making your karei raisu version 1 every Saturday night for about 18 months as it's soo good (usually in double portions so we can have a day or two later for lunch as well) - lamb was my favourite although pork fillet is a close second.. Will have to try your new recipe altho not sure whether we can the Japanese Curry powder at the bottom of the world yet so some experimentation may be needed... so glad I found your website - keep up the good work! Guess I should try some other recipes too!!
Catherine Bray says
I made this dish yesterday without ever trying the packaged curry mix. It was a hit for my dinner party. It took much, more prep time than 10 minutes but the time and effort was evident in a delicious meal. When guests arrived they said it smells "divine." I made a double sized batch and followed the recipe to a tee, except for vegetarian modifications. From a local Asian grocery I found the sauce... (the thicker kind) and the spice. For the meat I used vegan Japanese beef slices that I hydrated, chopped, and sautéed w a dash of sesame oil. For the broth, I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken. Thank you- delicious!
Renee says
Well, I made a mixture of the two versions last night (using some garam masala and some S&B curry, and half water and half stock). It was pretty amazing! Family said it was FAR better than the block stuff. I have to agree with others that this recipe is pretty forgiving and tweaking it for personal tastes is the way to go. I'm trying to imitate the great curry I grew up with in Hawaii and this recipe is a KEEPER! You rock, Marc!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Renee, the difference is the video is version 1.0 while this is more like version 3.0. I've replaced the garam masala with Japanese curry powder in the recipe because garam masala varies so much by brand, it's impossible to get consistent results. There's cardamom already in the Japanese curry powder, which is why you don't need it. As for the chicken stock, it produces a more flavorful curry than using water, but you can still use water if you'd like.
Renee says
I'm very confused. The YouTube video links to this recipe but the ingredients are completely different. There is no garam masala on here, no cardamom, this lists chicken stock but the video uses water. What am I missing
jbishopfam says
You're right, I've read the same thing. The difference between cream stew & white curry is that the former is not spiced, & the latter is. Gourmet magazine published a recipe for Vadouvan spice blend in 2008--which interestingly enough, was about the same time I noticed white curry receiving media buzz here. The recipe ingredients have a good deal of onions, shallots & garlic, followed in descending order, by ground cumin, fenugreek seeds, ground cardamon, brown mustard seeds, turmeric, hot red pepper flakes, & ground cloves. The reason I mention the white curry-Vadouvan connection is that a regional spice seller, Colonel De, here in my area, sells a packaged Vadouvan powdered curry mix. The recipe ingredients follow the Gourmet list exactly, but substitutes freeze dried onions & garlic for the fresh. The color? A light beige. Making a curry with this packaged mix would turn out with very light (white?) results. I've never eaten the Hokkaido white curry. I've seen photos, & the curry is not exactly white. But the original Gourmet recipe calls for caramelizing the onions & shallots, however, & that would darken the results a lot.....
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi CJ, I haven't had this one, but it sounds like it's made in a similar fashion to chicken cream stew (https://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/creamy-chicken-stew/) minus the turmeric, which is what gives regular curry its yellow color. My guess is that the curry flavor comes from other spices in curry powder like fenugreek, cumin and coriander seed.
jbishopfam says
Marc, have you tried making Hokkaido style white curry with yellow rice? If you have, any chance of posting a recipe? There are no recipes on the web in English, as far as I could find. The closest white curry blend I was able to find was Vadouvan...do you think that it might have been used in the original white curry recipe? Or perhaps something different?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Amber, grating results in a puree that allows for more even caramelization which is why I recommend it vs mincing. As for the rice, you can serve this with any kind of rice, but in Japan it's always served with Japanese rice (Koshihikari is a type of Japanese rice), which would be my recommendation.
Amber says
Is it important to grate the garlic or can it be minced or pureed? Also when serving this with rice does the type of rice matter? I have some koshihikari rice as well as the basmati white rice, they have distinctly different flavors so I wonder which would have a better complimentary flavor.
Marc Matsumoto says
Good call! Be sure to get the onions caramelized fully, and you can replace the chicken stock with a good vegetable stock.
Marc Matsumoto says
Provided you have fully caramelized onions you could use about 60 grams. Of course this is one of those things where more is better, so add the caramelized onions at your own discretion.
Marc Matsumoto says
Yep they do, but I can't seem to get the ratio right.
southern_gent says
Thanks so much for this! I have been making Japanese curry for years with the packaged blocks, and didn't know how to get the same effect with just the S&B powder, which is all I can find now. I'm making this for a friend tonight. I am vegetarian so I use deep fried tofu triangles instead of meat.
southern_gent says
Doesn't the S&B brand list all the ingredients on the can? Is it the ratios that you are uncertain of?
Calophi says
Hi! You mention that the 500g of onions get reduced to 1/8 of the size while caramelizing...how much should I put in if I caramelize the onions ahead of time?
steams says
I was hoping for a curry from scratch recipe that doesn't rely on prefabricated sauces, surely a scratch dish means that you either grind spices or buy pre-ground and mix them. I have no access to any Japanese products where I live so would love to know how to get the flavour for a curry. What is happening here is a bit like making an Indian Madras curry with a box of Madras Masala.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jamie, it sounds like you weren't getting enough sweetness from the onions and apple. Were your apples very sweet? The onions do take quite a while to caramelize properly, which is critical to making a good curry for two reasons. The first is that it adds sweetness and the second is that it adds umami. Here's a post I did that gives more details on caramelizing onions: https://norecipes.com/recipe/caramelized-onions-recipe/ As for spiciness, did you use S&B brand curry powder? The reason I ask is that different brands use different blends of spices so the heat can vary from powder to powder. If you did you S&B and it was still too spicy, you can just use less curry powder. I hope that helps.
Jamie Mac says
Hi,
I made this a little while ago but it didn't come out quite as I expected. It was good and certainly we didn't get the off feeling afterwards like we had eaten something unhealthy that we get from using the cubes.
It came out a bit spicy, so I added some honey which sweetened it, but then you kind of had this peak of spiciness and a peak of sweetness, but the middle felt a little flat, like it was lacking umami? Not sure if my explanation makes sense but that's how it felt. We usually aim for 中辛
I don't know if I didn't caramelise the onions enough, or they didn't have enough flavour (I often find it difficult to get good onions for some reason), or if there is something else I missed.
Any ideas? I am looking to make this again next week.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Ryan, I've been working on it, but still can't get the same Japanese Curry taste that you get with S&B.
Ryan Smithyman says
hi marc i'll have to try this recipe, btw do you have a recipe for making the curry powder?
Saad Sheikh says
Hello! I am sixteen years old and don't know a single thing about cooking. I was intrigued with curry, so I decided to do a bunch of research. Luckily your instructions made it possible for a young chef's second dish. Thank you so much!
egginator says
hii!! your recipe looks delicious. my father is japanese and we're all major fans of japanese cuisine so we often make curry. or well, i do actually cuz hes too lazy to. i never seasoned the chicken before, will def try that next time. we like adding cabbage to our curry its really good!:))
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to hear it was well received:-)
Daniel Verrill says
Someone told me I missed my calling as a chef. I sent them the link to your recipe!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Daniel, thanks for sharing! Yep, it's definitely better the second day. Hope you enjoy!
Daniel Verrill says
I just made some last night for a party. I grew up in Okinawa and have many find "curry memories." I find curry to always taste better the second day. I hope everyone will enjoy it! It's my 大好物!
Wilson Wong says
I must try this at sukiya
Nuoli says
Can I get the old recipe? I liked it a lot!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Izabela, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this! For the onions, they take on that consistency because they are caramelized to the core. If your onions looked like sautéed onions they may have been caramelized on the outside but they probably were not caramelized on the inside. It takes a long time and a bit of patience but try slicing your onions thinner next time to speed it up a bit. If you slice them on a mandolin they should get to the point of being fully caramelized in about 45 minutes. I hope that helps!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mai, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it and that it was able to lure you away from those instant blocks:-)
Mai says
I've had this on my to-do list for a long time and finally did it today. It was so easy and everyone loved it! I don't think I'll use the curry blocks ever again! Thanks Marc, love your website!
Dana says
My husband made this today, and it was amazing! In addition to following the recipe, he added 2 chicken bouillon cubes and some ground chili.
Ryan Patterson says
It seems the recipe changed. Would it be possible to change it back, or to repost it, or to email me the old one? I dont quite have it memorized
marjana says
Did you change the recipe? Because the last time I remember, it didnt use bayleaf and you changed tonkatsu sauce with tomato sauce + winchester sauce.
I've made it before, it was really good. But I lost my note, so I came here to check the recipe. And it's lil bit different from what I remember.
Didnt mean to brag, I'm just lil bit confuse.
Izabela says
Marc, it turned out absolutely perfect - on my first try! I'm so happy with myself (and my tummy is soooo happy too ^^). Thank you for such a beautiful recipe! I was a bit confused as to how you've achieved the consistency of the caramelized onions pictured - mine looked just like brown onions may look, but they still worked just fine. I had to come up with my own mix to substitute for the S&B powder, as well as had to improvise with the chunou sauce.. but I've managed! It tasted so much better than ready curry cubes! I will never go back to using them. I may consider sourcing Japanese curry powder.. but as I know how to make it myself.. who knows 😉
Thank you! ^^
Hyperb0wl says
yes i literally mean the flour granules separate from the fat. it definitely happens more often with darker roux's. when i was trying to figure out hayashi rice with a super dark roux, it ended up grainy/powdery literally every single time (15-20 attempts), no matter what proportion of flour/fat or type of fat and flour i used. i finally gave up and used a white/beige roux and the hayashi became smooth as can be. i have also had trouble with bechamels in the past but that may have been more clumping like you described and i just now make sure nothing is boiling hot and to go super slowly and whisk super aggressively. anywayz, love your recipes. keep up the good work!