JAPANESE BEEF CURRY RICE
JAPANESE BEEF CURRY RICE
#SIAintheKitchen
I pride myself on making everything from scratch. But sometimes - just sometimes - I’ll make something with a little bit of help.
I had found a leftover block of Japanese curry in my pantry and I just wanted to use it up. Those S&B, Vermont, and Glico curry packs are so damn good. But you can really elevate the dish if you tweak it just a little bit! It’s like jazzing up a bowl of instant ramen: adding green onions, seaweed, cabbage, egg, kimchi and more can really take it to the next level and up the ante. It makes it more of a meal. I decided to use my last curry roux block up and add a little ‘this’ and ‘that’ to make a super satisfying Japanese beef curry rice. Oh baby.
As you know, Japanese curry is very mild. It’s almost sweet. It’s so different than spice-heavy Indian curries, and the creamy coconut Thai curries. It’s its own category and is oh-so-comforting at any time of the year. I love making a big batch of Japanese curry and using the leftovers to make curry omurice, curry udon and more. It keeps well for days and repurposing it is so easy. Yum!
Japanese curry is also very stewy. I would say it’s more similar to an American stew than a traditional curry with even more similar ingredients. With that being said, I added some butter, red wine and tomato paste to enrichen the dish and to thicken it even further. It was my first time using beef (I typically cook Japanese curry with chicken) and I may not eve go back to using any other type of meat ever again.
The most important part of this recipe is caramelizing the onions. I cannot stress this enough. Really take the time to caramelize them down - at minimum should take about 45 minutes or so. Caramelizing the onions does take time - there are no shortcuts! Be sure to not skip this step - it’s super important!
Other than that, let it simmer for a couple hours to let the flavours really meld together. It’s so hard not to snack on this - the sauce is totally addicting! Salivating as I write this…
Please note that I made a HUGE amount of this for meal prep with purposeful intentions to make omurice and curry udon later. I would cut the vegetable amount in half as well as the broth to cut down on the portion size.
JAPANESE BEEF CURRY RICE - serves 8 - 10 (adapted from Just One Cookbook)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup butter
2.5 lbs stewing beef, diced into 1” pieces
4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
salt + pepper
1/4 cup butter
1 extra large yellow onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2” knob of ginger, minced
1/2 (6oz) can tomato paste
1 cup red wine
3 yellow potatoes, diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 block Japanese curry roux (I use S&B “medium”)
Coat the beef with all-purpose flour, salt and pepper. Melt the butter and vegetable oil together in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high and brown the beef pieces. Do this in batches as to prevent “steaming” the meat. Once browned, remove the meat and set aside.
Add in the remaining butter to the pot and add in the onions and break them up in the pot. Toss and ensure that onions are coated in oil/butter. Decrease the heat down to low to allow the onions to caramelize. Stir occasionally. This process will take you atleast 45 minutes.
Turn up the heat to medium-high and add in the garlic and ginger and saute for another minute. Stir in the tomato paste and add the meat back into the pot. Add in the potatoes and carrots and ensure that it is all coated in the onion and tomato mixture.
De-glaze the pan with the red wine and scrape off any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
Add in the vegetable stock and bring the liquids up to a boil. Insert the curry roux in a ladle and add some of hot broth. Stir until the block begins to dissolve. Continue stirring and then slowly mix in with the rest of the liquids.
Bring the heat down to low, cover and let simmer for atleast one hour until the vegetables are cooked. Serve with rice.