Japanese curry rice or karē raisu is Mr. D’s favorite and whenever I cook this dish, he’ll jump for joy like a little boy in a candy store. Japanese curry is very popular in Japan and you can easily get it in any fast food shop or cafe. Unlike Indian or Malaysian curry which are on the spicy side, Japanese curry is not spicy, has thicker consistency, extremely aromatic and slightly sweeter. It is a very appetizing dish and Mr. D couldn’t have enough of it. This dish is simple and quick to prepare as you can use store bought Japanese curry roux in block form. There are an assortment of instant curry roux which are easily available in any Asian groceries store. The major brands are from House Foods, S&B Foods & Ezaki Glico.

In our quest to search for the best instant Japanese curry roux, we tested the different range we could get hold of such as the S&B Golden Curry, S&B Tasty Curry, House Vermont Curry, House Java Curry, and House Kokumaro Curry. Our verdict: Kokumaro Curry from House is without a doubt the best curry among all the instant Japanese curry we tried as it’s seductively aromatic and tantalizing. It tastes as good or even better than the ones serve in the Japanese restaurant here. It comes in a box with 2 blocks of curry roux and each block yields about 5 servings.

Finely diced shallots, bite-sized chicken, diced carrots and potatoes, and Kokumaro instant curry roux are all you need.

Itadakimasu! Honto ni oishii desu!

Japanese Curry Rice (Serves 5)

Ingredients

• 2 small shallots (finely diced)
• 2 small carrots (diced)
• 2 potatoes (diced)
• 3 chicken thigh fillets (approximately 400 g)
• 2 cups water
• 1 block of Kokumaro instant curry roux
• 2 tbs oil

Methods

1. Rinse the chicken fillets with water and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Cut then into cubes.
2. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and brown the chicken pieces. Brown them in 2-3 batches so that the pan is not overcrowded. Keep them aside.
3. In the same pan, add in the diced shallots and stir fry them for 1 min or until fragrant.
4. Add in the diced carrots and potatoes and stir fry for another 3 min.
5. Add in the browned chicken pieces and stir well.
6. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and bring to boil. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 15 min or until the chicken are cooked through and the potatoes and carrots are tender.
7. Remove from heat. Break curry sauce block into cubes and add them to the pan.
8. Stir well until all of the curry sauce mix dissolve.
9. If you want thicker consistency, cook over low heat for another 10 min. I usually skip this step as the amount of water I added is 1/2 cup less than stated in the instruction. Hence, I do not have to thicken it at the end.
10. Serve it warm over cooked rice.

Tagged: carrot, chicken, dinner, ezaki glico, food, House Curry, instant curry, Japan, japanese, japanese curry rice, kare raisu, Kokumaro, lunch, potatoes, quick, rice, S&B Curry, those lazy days