Japanese beef curry (Curry Rice)

Japanese Beef Curry

A English style stew with super thick curry (can be prepared both as sweet or spicy hot). So far this recipe didn't turn out well. I am looking into adjusting the recipe to see how to make it taste better and 100% authentic. Please don't try this recipe yet!

Not all curry powder are same. Do NOT use Indian curry powder in this dish due to the presence of large amount of Turmeric (strong smell and taste will make the curry uneatable). Japanese curry powder uses Mustard and very little Turmeric.

Makes about 6 to 8 servings.

• 450-500g / about 1 lb stewing beef cubes (chuck works well; it should be a cut with a bit of fat in it and not too sinewy. Cubes about 2 cm / 1 inch square)
• 6 large onions, or about 6 cups sliced
• 3 cloves garlic
• An adult thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
• 2 cups of crushed tomatoes (1 small can, or 400g)
• 1 cup of beef or vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• 2-3 Tbs. Garam Masala (see notes)
• 3-4 large carrots
• 1 medium eating-type apple
• 3-4 medium potatoes
• Oil or butter
• Optional: 1 cup frozen green peas
• Salt and pepper
• 5 cup of water

For the curry roux:

• 3 Tbs. butter, ghee, clarified butter or oil, or a mixture
• 4 Tbs. white flour
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tbs. Japanese curry powder, or more to taste (see notes)

To serve with:

• Plain white steamed Japanese rice, or plain brown rice

Special equipment recommended: a heavy-bottomed (enamelled) cast iron pot or stock pot.

Pat dry the meat with paper towels, and brown in a little oil on all sides in a frying pan. Set aside.

Slice the onions thinly. Grate the ginger and either grate or finely chop the garlic. Peel and cut the carrots into chunks. Don't peel the potatoes yet: this will come later.

Heat your heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, and heat up some butter, ghee or oil. Add the onions and a pinch of salt, and lower the heat to medium-low. Now comes a period of long, slow cooking of the onions that can take up to an hour or so (the salt helps it along as it extracts the moisture in the onions). At the end you want to end up with a much reduced mass of onion that is a light caramel brown in color, as in the photo.

Once the onions have reached this stage, add the ginger and garlic and cook a few more minutes. Add the canned tomato and 5 cups of water, the browned beef, the stock cube, the bay leaf and the star anise. (If you are particular you can put these in a bit of cheese cloth or a tea ball for easy extraction later.)

Peel and grate the apple and stir in. (This is optional, but adds to the depth of flavor.)

Bring up to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for at least 1 hour, or more if your meat is a bit tough.

About 30 minutes into the cooking process, dry-roast about a tablespoon of garam masala powder in a small frying pan until it starts to get very fragant, and ad to the stew pot. Add the carrots around then too.

In the meantime, make the curry roux. In a small frying pan, melt the butter or ghee or clarified butter (note that ghee is basically clarified butter) and heat until any foaming subsides.

Add the flour, and cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it becomes a light brown in color. (See these very detailed instructions for roux if you aren't sure.)

Take the pan off the heat, and add the Japanese curry powder (the more the hotter.) Stir until the whole kitchen and beyond smells like curry. Set aside.

When the meat is about as tender as you want, peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks and add to the curry. Continue simmering until the potatoes are tender.

Take the pot off the heat and fish out the bay leaf and star anise. Stir in the roux carefully until it's completely melted into the stew and the liquid is thick and very brown. Return to the heat and simmer a few more minutes.

At this stage you can dry roast another tablespoonful or so of garam masala and add it to the curry.

At the last minute, add the optional frozen green peas, and stir - they should cook almost instantaneously. Serve immediately.

Instead of, or in addition to, the grated apple, you can add some chutney, a tablespoon or so of honey, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and even a bit of soy sauce or miso.

*This is based on Recipe post by Maki.