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Supermarket display of curry rū (roux) |
Curry may be the
national dish of Britain, but it's practically a national dish in Japan too - albeit one introduced by the British. A
2008 survey found that 20% of men ate "curry rice" (カレーライス) - basically curry on top of rice - once or more a week with 92% of all respondents saying they liked it. For children, it consistently comes in at number one in lists of favourite dishes: since 1945 it has remained the
top choice for elementary schoolers. Interestingly number 2 and 3 in the ranking has become a lot more luxurious in recent years: whereas
omu-raisu (rice inside an omelette) and hamburgers made up the top three for post-war kids, today sushi and fried-chicken occupy those spots! Other everyday curry staples include
karē-udon (curry on top of thick noodles),
karē-pan (deep-fried pastry filled with curry), and even
curry pizzas!
Perhaps one of the reasons for the popularity of curry-rice is that it is very easy to cook - but at the time relatively healthy. Japanese typically use curry blocks known as
karē-rū (roux) to make the sauce - the picture above shows them piled up on display in a local supermarket. Onions, potatoes, carrots, and meat (chicken or beef) are the standard ingredients, but other
popular additions include garlic (
nin-niku), aubergine/eggplant (
nasu), honey (
hachimitsu), chocolate, and even coffee! The sauce itself tends to be rather mild and sweet - apple and honey is a popular roux flavour - and rather different from Indian curry which is also popular in Japan. In terms of
toppings, cheese, egg, and especially
katsu - deep-fried pork or other cutlets - are common. My simple five-step recipe is pictured below: no potatoes (because my wife doesn't like them in curry!) but I add green pepper (
pīman) and brown-beech
mushrooms (
buna-shimeji) together with quail eggs (
uzura no tamago) topped off with a giant pork cutlet and a sprinkling of cheese. The picture shows the final result: tasty even if I say so myself!
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Left to Right: (1) Fry garlic and caramelise onions (2) add vegetables and keep frying (3) add 850ml water; simmer for 15 minutes while removing aku (scum) (4) stop heat and add roux; simmer on low heat for 10 minutes (5) done! |
As a final aside, many speciality shops offer a giant
katsu-karē which if eaten in a fixed time comes at no charge! For example, I recently read about a restaurant called Takeharu in Fuefuki, Yamanashi, which offers a huge pork cutlet curry dish weighing 4kg for ¥3,600: if you can finish within 15 minutes you apparently get a ¥10,000 prize!