Japanese Chicken Curry

Curry was introduced to Japan in the late nineteenth century and quickly became popular, according to Ms. Shimbo. It was the English who brought curry dishes from their Indian colony; as a result, curries were seen as sophisticated Western food and were prepared by chefs who had mastered French cuisine. Japan has made curry its own: it is not very much like Indian curry. So here I am, a descendant of Finn-landers and living in the middle of the U.S. making Japanese curry!

Ms. Shimbo notes that the cook can use shrimp, chicken, pork, or beef. When I originally made this dish last October, I thought it needed just a bit more heat. This time, I added a little tobanjiang. Perhaps I should have used a smaller spoon?

Japanese-style Chicken Curry with Rice, page 316
Tori no Karei Raisu

The recipe in the book is written for shrimp, so I’m guessing at the Japanese word. 鶏 Is this chicken?
serves 4
Sunday, 6 January 2008

• 5 TBS butter (3 for the vegetables, 2 for the chicken)
• 2 medium onions, minced (I used a grater)
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger (micro-plane grater)
• 3 cloves garlic (micro-plane grater)

In a large heavy pot, cook over low heat until tender, about 15 minutes.

• 3 TBS S&B dry curry powder

Heat the spice in a small pan until fragrant (30 seconds) then add it to the onion mixture. Stir.

• 1 medium carrot, grated (I used 2 small red carrots)
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 mango, grated or chopped fine
• (mangos were like rocks in the store so I used another apple)
• 1/4 cup tomato puree
• 2 TBS mango chutney
• 5 cups chicken stock

Add the above ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low.

• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Add the seasonings, stir, and cook uncovered for 3 hours. Stir about every 1/2 hour to prevent burning and sticking. The sauce thickens so you want to pay attention near the end of the cooking time.

I added the toban jiang, about 1 TBS at this point.

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2″ cubes (I had a pound and a half thawed, so I used them—no regrets to have more)

Melt the other 2 TBS of butter in a skillet and saute the chicken to cook through.

Ms. Shimbo directs the cook to add 3 TBS brandy to the skillet and light a flame to burn off the alcohol. I was fresh out of brandy, and also had no parsley to garnish. But I had spinach on the side and served the curry with plain white rice.

I’m looking forward to eating this again: there are only us two so there is plenty left. I love it when I can cook once and eat twice.

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Tags: Curry, Japanese Recipes, mango