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–+ servings

Japanese Dry Curry Rice

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 portions

Ingredients 
 

Filling

  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter with salted butter, use less salt at the end
  • 1 tsp ginger root finely diced
  • 1 tbsp garlic finely diced
  • ½ onion finely diced
  • 150 g ground meat half beef and half pork, or either one alone
  • 4 button mushrooms sliced
  • ½ bell peppers any color, diced
  • ½ carrot finely diced

Seasonings

To Serve

Instructions 

  • Melt 1 tbsp unsalted butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp ginger root (finely diced), 1 tbsp garlic (finely diced) and ½ onion (finely diced), and stir-fry until fragrant.
    frying onion, garlic and ginger in a pan
  • Add 150 g ground meat, 4 button mushrooms (sliced), ½ bell peppers (diced) and ½ carrot (finely diced). Stir-fry until the meat has changed color and is cooked all the way through.
    Frying ground beef/pork and vegetables with aromatics in a frying pan
  • Sprinkle 2 tbsp Japanese style curry powder and ½ tbsp all-purpose flour over the ingredients and stir until evenly coated and no white flour remains.
    Ground meat and vegetables seasoned with curry spices
  • Stir in 1 tbsp red wine, 200 ml chicken bouillon, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup, ½ tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 bay leaf.
    Dry curry simmering in a pan
  • Cook it down uncovered, stir occasionally and scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent catching. It's done when the mixture is thick and you can draw a line through it without liquid pooling straight in.
    Add 1 pinch salt and pepper and stir well. Remove the bay leaf and take the pan off the heat.
    Thickened dry curry in a pan
  • Divide 2 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice between 2 plates and spoon the dry curry next to it. Scatter the green onions and dried red chili pepper over the curry, then set 2 hot spring egg (onsen tamago) in the centers, one per plate. Enjoy!
    dry curry with rice topped with green onion, chili and green onion on an oval-shaped white plate with beige rim

Notes

Powders go into the fat before the liquid: Curry powder opens up its aroma in fat. Add it to the liquid instead and it stays powdery, and the flour clumps, so always add the powder first.
Season last, and a little strong: With liquid still in the pan, it tastes thinner than it is. Decide once the liquid is gone, and stop when it tastes slightly too strong by itself. The white rice brings it back to just right.
Keep the curry powder from scorching: Once it is coated in the fat and smells fragrant, that is enough.
Japanese Worcestershire sauce is the baseline: In Japanese recipes, Worcestershire means a sweet sauce made from fruit and vegetables. With Lea & Perrins, use a little less and round off its edge with a pinch of sugar or a little more ketchup.
With British or Madras curry powder: It is hotter than the red tin, with less turmeric aroma. Start with less than the card amount, taste, and add more.