I’ve always been a fan of Japanese curry, and I usually keep one of those Glico Japanese curry blocks at home! Recently, I began to wonder whether it would be much more work to make the curry from scratch, because surely, it must taste better! And it turned out that the extra work is only in prepping a few additional ingredients, but the cooking time is still the same. Considering how much better (and fresher) it tastes, it is so totally worth it!
In this recipe I use beef, because I just LOVE the flavour of beef with this curry, but you can use any other protein you like, or add no protein at all. It’s common in Japan to make the curry sauce sans meat, and serve it with a piece of breaded and fried pork cutlet. So you can really take the basic idea of the sauce and apply it however you like!
JOIN US ON PATREON FOR BONUS CONTENT:
MY KITCHEN TOOLS & INGREDIENTS:
WRITTEN RECIPE:
MY COOKBOOK:
CONNECT WITH ME!
https://facebook.com/HotThaiKitchen
https://instagram.com/HotThaiKitchen
https://twitter.com/HotThaiKitchen
https://www.pinterest.com/hotthaikitchen
About Pai:
Pailin “Pai” Chongchitnant is the author of the Hot Thai Kitchen cookbook, co-host of a Canadian TV series One World Kitchen on Gusto TV, and creator and host of the YouTube channel Pailin’s Kitchen.
Pai was born and raised in southern Thailand where she spent much of her “playtime” in the kitchen. She traveled to Canada to study Nutritional Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and was later trained as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in San Francisco.
After working in both Western and Thai professional kitchens, she decided that her passion really lies in educating and empowering others to cook at home via YouTube videos, her cookbook, and cooking classes. She currently lives in Vancouver, and goes to Thailand every year to visit her family. Visit her at
#ThaiFood #ThaiRecipes #AsianRecipes
Hey everyone welcome to pai's kitchen now hands up
if anyone has ever used one of these now if you Don't know what this is this is a Japanese curry
sauce mix sort of like a curry paste basically You add meat vegetables water and there you have
a Japanese curry now I used to love this I still Do and I use this all the time until one day
recently it occurred to me wait a minute what is Actually in this thing and could I actually just
make it all from scratch and it turns out that I can and it's not that hard it's only a little
bit more work in prepping a few ingredients but The rest is pretty much the same so I'm super
excited to share it with you because then you Can actually make it to suit your taste exactly
so let's get started you can use whatever kind Of meat you want if you want to use meat you can
also do this with tofu or with no protein at all Okay so I'm using beef because I love the flavor
of beef with this and I'm using chuck which is The best cut for stew it cooks out to be nice and
tender and flavorful I'm going to just salt it a Little bit so that the beef has some flavor
inside with the other ingredients I've got Here apple puree now I know the color does not
look anything like an apple puree but when you Puree an apple it oxidizes really quickly so it
just turns really Brown but it's actually quite Common to use apples as a sweetener in Japanese
cuisine for curry powder now for this recipe you Can use whatever kind of curry powder that you
have that you like however if you want to get The flavor as close to the Japanese curry blocks
as possible you might want to look for Japanese Curry powder SMB brand is pretty classic so the
secret ingredient not that secret is tomato paste And this is not going to make the curry taste
tomatoey at all but what it will do is give a Rich umami lift because tomato paste is packed
full of natural glutamate which is what MSG is So don't skip it this makes a big difference all
right now for seasoning I am using here Japanese Soy sauce okay and Japanese soy sauce does
taste different from Thai Chinese or Korean Soy sauces so you can get one of these they come
in small bottles you don't have to buy a big one Or you can just collect those sushi soy sauce
packets until you've got enough okay the next Ingredient the next seasoning is worse – sure
sauce where's your sauce however you say it it's Such a difficult word and it's a vinegary sauce
that really brightens the flavor of this curry I would say you could probably get away with
skipping it if you don't want to buy a whole Bottle and then never use it again but if you've
got one in your fridge already definitely a nice Addition okay so I'm going to start by browning
the beef because browning is flavor and you're Going to want to brown the beef anyway even if
you're using the curry blocks and it doesn't Tell you to do that in the package instructions
but trust me it makes a difference if you don't Hear the sizzle it's not hot enough and you don't
want to crowd the pot now you're feeling hardcore You can you know go and flip them all and get all
six sides brown but I only have enough patience For about two to three sides and I'm like alright
that's enough all right so that's done now I'm
Going to keep that pot because all that brown
stuff in the pot is flavor and I'm going to add Onions garlic and ginger and we're just going to
sauté it until they become soft and translucent so Once things are softened up I'm going to add the
tomato paste now I like to cook my tomato paste in Some high heat before I add it too before I add
any liquid because there's this tinny metallic Flavor in tomato paste that seems to go away
if you sautee it and it also almost sweetened The tomato paste a little bit just makes it so
much better I'm going to add my curry powder So give the curry powder just about a minute to
toast bloom all the flavor of the spices if it's Getting a little dry you can add a little bit of
oil to help lubricate and at this point just watch Your heat because spices powder spices can burn
quite easily I can really smell it in the air now I'm going to go in with my liquid which is beef
stock now I am actually using store-bought beef Stock for this because Thor bought stock has
a nice brown color because they make a brown Stock and it's a lot of work to make a brown beef
stock at home but make sure that when you buy it It is unsalted not low-sodium not thirty percent
less salt unsalted you want all the salt to come From the soy sauce which will add more flavor if
you use salted stock now you won't be able to add Hardly any soy sauce before it becomes too salty
the apple puree goes in so this is our sweetening Agent and also it will help thicken the sauce now
all my seasoning is also going to go in at this Point and then the beef goes back in now I'm
going to let this simmer and stew now for two Hours before add my vegetables if you're using
chicken or pork it's not going to take as long And I'll include all the details in the written
recipe in the meantime we'll be right back so This point the beef has been simmering for about
two hours it is almost at the point where it's Fork-tender ok we're going to add some vegetables
to it classically it's always carrots and potatoes I prefer russet potato which is a starchy potato
which cooks up to be sort of creamy right if you Use a new potato or a [ __ ] potato it's going to
be a little firmer and I find in stews it doesn't Absorb flavor quite as well and I really like
that creamy texture now this just has to cook For another half an hour it's looking a little
thin so what we're going to do is make a roux To help thicken it so a roux is a classic French
method of thickening a soup or stew or a sauce in Fact a lot of people call this stuff a curry roux
like curry flavored roux because there is flour In here that helps thicken your curry but it's
really easy to make it's just flour and butter Okay so I'm gonna just melt some butter in here
and it's unsalted now if you're feeling lazy and You don't want to make a roux you can just make a
flour slurry and add it to your curry and thicken It that way however making a roux will add extra
flavor so once the butter is all melted I'm going To add in the flour and this is just all-purpose
flour and that's it pick up that's the root now You want to cook this though so that the flour
no longer has that raw flour taste so give it a Few minutes you can leave it like this and it's
called a white roux make it a little more dark
This called a blonde roux and it adds a little
extra flavor some people push it really dark And they make a brown Roux which ass even more
flavor okay so it's starting to darken a little Bit so I'm going to I'm happy with that I can
smell the nuttiness I'm going to turn off the Heat and now this can just sit until we're ready
to use it so the potatoes are cooked and soft and Tender and creamy and when you weren't looking
I stirred in some peas because you know I like Pops of green in my food and I left peace so you
don't have to do it though now at this point I Do want to thicken my curry a little bit see how
it's it's thickened but it's still a little runny Now you don't have to add all the root okay so it
completely depends on how thick you want it so I'm Going to start with just about half and see where
we're at and because the flours coat it in the Butter it won't clump do you want to stir that in
and you bring it to a simmer so that the roux has A chance to work and I love it when the potatoes
start to lose their edges because they're getting A little bit mushy that's perfect and now taste
and adjust mmm mmm mmm I think I'm gonna add a Little more soy sauce but then I think we're good
to go so always serve this with rice and of course I've got Japanese rice in my plate here Oh mm-hmm
because this is quite rich the Japanese like to Serve a little bit of pickles to go along with
it and the classic pickle that gets served with Curry rice is something called fugu Shinsegae
it's a mixture of different vegetables radishes Lotus root a bunch of stuff in there and it's red
because of shiso leaves however not all of it is Red I've had some where it's sort of a yellowish
and those work as well so it's just sort of up to You it's widely available at Japanese grocery
stores they've got tons of pickles to choose From and the red ones a nice color contrast
as well look how cute that is let's begin Hmm oh that beef is so tender I have to say
as much as I love my curry block this just Takes it to a whole nother level it's really
hard to describe but there's something about It but tastes fresh you eat that and you know
it was made from scratch that it didn't come From a premade box and you just feel so proud of
it you know you just love this so much more when You know you made it and that flavor there's no
other curry box that can replicate the flavor Of home-cooked meal so I hope you give this
a try it's so so good the recipe will be on Hot Thai Kitchen calm and when you make it
please send me a photo on Facebook Twitter Or Instagram and I'm also now on snapchat
so follow me on snapchat and subscribe to The show if you haven't done so and I will
see you next time for your next delicious Adventure you can use whatever kind you want
chicken beef pork shrimp elk moose alligator Alligator squirrels rabbits tofu meatballs
tofurkey have I covered everything you use
