Japanese Curry - the forgotten curry?!

[cupcakechef]

I lived in Japan for a few years and I really fell in love with Japanese style curry - however I feel like it's the forgotten curry (or even unknown curry!) among its more popular curry friends like Indian and Thai curries!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_curry

You can buy packets at a lot of international grocers so you can give it a try yourself - they have instructions in English which makes life easier!

I would highly recommend trying it - if you're ever in Japan there's also many places that sell Japanese curry. A particular chain I liked there is called Coco's Curry - check it out if you're ever in Japan!

 

[Shimus]

I've seen so many anime shows and things saying how good their curry was, but I've never tried it. I always assumed what I needed to make it was ingredients native to their location, but with these packets I've never been so wrong. I just literally tried this the other day and can say it rivals any other good curry when done right.

 

[Dianemwj]

When my husband was in the Marine Corps, back before we met, he spent some time in Japan where he tried this curry and enjoyed it. When he told me about it, I bought a packet and gave it a try. Now I always keep a large packet of it in my freezer (to prevent rancidity; there's some fat in those cubes). This curry has a wonderful flavor all its own, definitely curry, but different from Indian and Thai. We really like it, and it makes a quick meal.

 

[Morning Glory]

Having looked at the Wikipedia description, I'm struck by how (to my British curry brain) it seems like an old-fashioned British version of an Indian curry. Its similar to the curry recipes you find in old cookbooks here. It contains flour and curry powder (two ingredients that, to be authentic, we would never put in a curry now). The article says that it was basically brought to Japan by the British via India (1868–1912), so its not that surprising that it sounds like an old-fashioned British curry recipe. In the UK this kind of sauce still exists, but only in Chinese Take Away restaurants and (oddly) as a curry sauce to go with chips, from a fish & chip takeaway. Curry sauce of this type is glossy and rather gloopy. I guess it has its place, but I'm not going to race out to buy it!

Think I'll stick with caramelised onions, dry-roasted and ground spices, ginger and garlic paste and ghee as a base for my curry sauce.