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.
Jump to:
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
Recipes in your inbox
I'll send you recipes and ideas to get you excited about cooking.
Damon says
Good recipe but would be nice to have a printable recipe without having all these pictures eating up ink.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Damon, thanks for the suggestion. The site used to have this function but we recently moved platforms and lost this ability. It's high on my list of things to have my developer fix. In the mean time, I'd suggest cutting and pasting the recipe into a document editor and removing the photos before printing. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Shane, yes you could make this to use as a sauce, but you'd want to use a rather concentrated chicken/beef/pork stock as the sauce gets a lot of flavor from the meat that's added. Also, don't see any problem with blending the sauce.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Wendy, glad to hear you were able to make it work out with the substitutions and thanks for sharing the advice for other readers! Good idea to fry the potatoes first to keep them from melting. Personally, I kind of like the vegetables to all be melting into the roux, but this is totally a personal preference thing. Hope you enjoyed it!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi William, there was an old recipe but the results on that were less consistent. For instance garam masala tastes wildly different depending on the brand, so using a Japanese curry powder is a better option. Also by mixing the curry powder and ketchup into the roux, some people had problems with the curry powder or ketchup burning making their curry bitter. I've also found that adding the curry powder earlier on flavors the meat and veggies. As for using beef you can substitute beef for the chicken and just increasing the cooking time a bit.
William Lopez says
Ive had this page bookmarked for years and i remember this recipe called for beef, and i dont remember things like bay leaf, cocoa powder and other things. I remember curry was made separately by adding the curry powder flour, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, until it turned into the paste, then was added into the pot later...I wish i could have the older recipe...
Wendy Hirano says
Just finished making the curry from scratch. Of course, making something from scratch takes longer, so be prepared. My daughter is gluten-free so I used mochiko (rice flour) in the roux. It came out well. My daughter is also dairy-free, so using the non-dairy Smart Balance margarine worked out fine in the roux, too, to thicken the curry sauce. I used a cast iron pan to caramelize the onions so it came out darker. The taste was a bit stronger because of that so I just added some sugar to smooth out the taste. I also fried my potatoes before adding them to the curry, which took time. I think it helps the potatoes not to melt. I heard if you add a pad of butter/margarine to the potatoes, they don't melt as much. I added some thin green beans to the curry to add more color. Well, we are about to eat, so it's time for me to go! Thanks Marc for this good idea for curry!
Shane L says
Hi Marc, your recipe looks great. Would I be able to use this same recipe (but without putting the meat in it) and use it as a sauce over some chicken katsu? Also would it work if I blended the sauce? Keen to try this recipe for the first time this weekend.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi whenrainmeetssun, you could use a mixture of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, but many ketchups contain HFCS as well, so you'd have to find one that does not.
whenrainmeetssun says
The chunou sauce I find in the stores has high fructose syrup and modified corn starch. Is there a better alternative?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Kasper, sorry for the slow response the roux is cooked for a longtime to brown the flour. This develops additional flavor for the same reason that toasted bread is more savory than untoasted white bread.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Chibi, caramelizing the onions is what the the famous curry houses do here in Japan that sets their curries apart. Hope you enjoy!
Chibi Epple says
I guess my mom's version was towards home-style, but yes I believe the flavor of homemade is so much better than the cubes. If I run out of S&B powder, curry is on hold until I make it to an Asian market. I do believe I'm going to try carmelizing the onions next time. Umami is a good thing! Thanks for the idea.!
Kasper Bornauw Vanderlocht says
Wow your idea of adding tonkatsu is amazing. I wonder, why do you heat the roux for so long? I generally just let it heat a minute or so to kill the flour flavor.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Liesl, if you're in the US, Chunou sauce can be found on Amazon, otherwise you can approximate it with a 50/50 mix of ketchup and worcestershire sauce. As for premade curry blocks, just use the block in place of the roux.
Liesl says
Hello! I cannot look at older comments on my computer so I apologize if this has already been asked, but how would I incorporate the pre-made curry cause cubes into your recipe?
Also, I cannot find the Chunou sauce at my local stores and was wondering what would be a decent substitute?
Thank you!
Adika Zaki Mahira says
enjoy it
Adika Zaki Mahira says
it's look like a shit, i wonder how its taste
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Nanda, the time it takes to cook is going to depend on how big you cut the pieces and how much connective tissue is in the particular piece of meat you use. If you cut it very thin and there isn't much connective tissue, it could be as fast as 40 minutes, but if you cut them into large chunks and there is a lot of connective tissue it could take up to 3 hours. As for the process, it remains the same up until step 8. You'll want to add the carrots and potatoes later on in the cooking process depending on how thick you cut the meat.
Nanda says
Hi Marc, thank you so much for the quick reply. I absolutely love short rib flavor and texture. Can you give me a little more guidance on the cooking times and technique? I thought short rib would need a lot longer cooking time than the Curry generally takes to make?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Nanda, this could definitely be made with beef, or lamb, or pork, or any other kind of meat. The directions are mostly the same, but the cooking times until the cut of meat you chose is tender may vary. For beef its best to use a cut with some connective tissue like chuck or short-rib as it will get tender after cooking without getting dried out.
Nanda says
Hi I wonder if you could recommend a way to make this recipe with beef instead? thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Anh, this is a more recent version of the recipe, so I'd suggest trying this. You can still use the techniques shown in the video though since those haven't changed much.
Anh Tran says
Hi marc i noticed the recipe directions on here are different than the youtube video. Should i use the directions on this page or on the video . Thanks! Cant wait to try this
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sara, glad to hear you enjoyed this!
Sara Rodrigues de Miranda says
I absolutely love this recipe, its my favourite curry so far (>^-^<)
Sara Rodrigues de Miranda says
i absolutely love this recipe, its my favorite curry so far (>^_^<)
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Helen, I'm so glad to hear your family enjoyed this, thanks for leaving a note!
helen shor says
Our family loved your recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Deepthi, sorry about that there was a typo and it said "coco powder" in the instructions. It's fixed now.
Deepthi Varma says
Is 'Cocoa powder' used in this curry? Its mentioned in the ingredients, but cant find it in the recipe.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Stephen, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. Yea I know what you mean. I like the cube taste, but don't want all the frankeningredients in them.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Linda, Chunou sauce is a Japanese fruit sauce that's a bit like Worcestershire, but thicker and sweeter. It's sold on Amazon, but you can also get something close by mixing ketchup and Worcestershire sauce in a 50:50 ratio.
Stephen Messerian says
Great recipe! Didn't want to use the manufactured cubes. This was natural and yummy too.
Linda says
What is chunou sauce?
Julia Dunaway says
Hi Marc, I am enjoying your blog and wishing you had cookbook.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Stefan, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this. It's a little confusing, but curry leaves are not the same thing as curry powder. Curry leaves are the leaves of the Murraya Koenigii plant. Curry powder is a British blend of spices that usually includes cumin, turmeric, cloves, fenugreek, coriander, cayenne, etc. Unsurprisingly they have very different tastes.
Stefan Oettli says
Very nice recipe, thank you! By the way, I happen to have dried curry leaves, can I also use these instead of the curry powder for the same recipe?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Travis, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it! Yep, you can follow the same process for beef, though depending on the cut (I'd recommend a cheap cut with lots of connective tissue), you'll need to cook it longer to tenderize the meat.
Travis Hodges says
i also used fuji apple and instead of deglazing the the brown from the bottom of the pot with water i used a little aji-mirin.
Travis Hodges says
this was am amazing dish! i made it it took a while because i'm new to the processes but it was so good!!! it came out just right though i did add a few dashes of texas pete and some crushed red pepper for heat. the thigh meat really makes this dish though i can plainly see! thank you for this can i follow the same resapie with beef?
Callum Payne says
A sweet apple like a gala apple 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Callum, you can do this in a slow cooker, but it's going to involve a bit more work and dirtying an extra pot as you need to to do steps 2-7 in a regular pot (crock pots won't get hot enough to brown the meat and caramelize the onions). I'd also recommend doing part of step 8 (adding the liquid) in the pot to scrape up any browned bits of flavor with the liquid to ensure you get all the flavor into the crock pot.
Callum Payne says
You can buy spices online, the s&b oriental curry powder is on amazon
Callum Payne says
Hi Marc, I'm thinking about making this for christmas in a slow cooker/crock pot and adding the roux before serving, any suggestions?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Cross, have a look at this post on caramelizing onions: https://norecipes.com/recipe/caramelized-onions-recipe/ my guess is that you have your heat up too high and the onions are burning before they're able to fully caramelize.
Cross says
I can't quite seem to get the onion paste quite right. Either the onions don't cook down enough, or I seem to overcook them slightly, while getting the paste. Any suggestions?
Cross says
Coconut oil ads a pleasant Indian/Thai curry style twist.
Marc Matsumoto says
Also, if your problem is lactose intolerance, you could try ghee (clarified butter). Butter has very little lactose to begin with and almost all of it is removed when the butter is clarified.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Tanya, it won't have the same flavor, but you could use coconut oil or whatever oil you prefer using.
Tanya Anne Lanuzo says
I'm severely dairy intolerant. What would you recommend as a butter replacement when making the roux?