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Japanese Brown Curry Experiment
Jan. 18th, 2015 04:24 pmI am REALLY proud of how this Japanese curry came out! I have been craving curry like the yummy yummy brown "bean curd" curry I got in Hiroshima last spring (not that it was fancy curry, it was a little localish food place with a short order cook. but it was GOOD). So last night I read a whole bunch of recipes and set out to recreate it and it went REALLY WELL, even though I did not use the prepackaged boxed "chocolate bar" style roux blocks. I even bought a tofu brick to put bean curd in it!
Changes for next time: I should have used less potatoes, and left them in bigger chunks, they got pretty mealy by the end of the cooking time (also perhaps should have not used russets, but that's what we had). Should have ensured my chicken broth was thawed before starting. And I think next time I'll use regular firm tofu instead of extra firm.
How I made it, with commentary about where I would change things:
Curry Roux:
1/3 cup fat (I used vegetable oil, but butter or shortening or lard or whatever would work just as well)
About 1/4 cup flour
2 T garam masala
1 T curry powder
I think garam masala can be bought pre-packaged? I used this recipe, and am storing in an empty cumin bottle:
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Except I didn't have cardamom. And my coriander did not come pre-ground, so I was trying to grind it with my mortar and pestle and it only sort of worked (it was not so fine as might be desired). But this spice mix (in my opinion, anyways) contributes a lot to this curry being brown and hot/sweetinsh instead of yellow and TURMERIC flavored like my Indian curries always turn out. Also my Indian curries used more peppers in the base. And yogurt. ANYWAYS.
I did this in a big enough pot that I was able to add all the later ingredients to. I used my giant stir-fry pot but it would work just as well in a 1 gal spaghetti pot or something. You could get away with less large if you add less vegetables. There's also instructions out there for making the roux in one pot and the other things in a different pot. Do as you wish.
Making the roux:
Heat the fat to all liquid and thin like. Add the flour, stir til smooth. Keep stirring. Stir for a LONG TIME, until smells bready and is "fox colored" (I like the analogy, from one of the recipes I was using). I didn't quite stir constantly, I would stir, chop an onion, stir, start rice, stir, etc etc etc. But stir enough that it doesn't burn and keeps the color pretty even.
Once it is fox colored, stir in the garam masala and curry powder, and cook until "fragrant". This is when Woggy calls in from the living room "something smells like nom in there!". You can either cool and package the roux for later (supposedly, store tightly closed in the fridge for a week or frozen for a month, but I haven't tried it), or carry on with cooking the curry.
You should start the rice around now too (whatever kind you like) so it's ready when the curry is.
Curry ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth/stock
potatoes (5 medium russets was Too Many, maybe 3 next time?), chopped up into bigish pieces
carrots (3 big carrots was about right), chopped up (I cut them into disks on the diagonal)
onions (2 smallish), cut up
2 t salt (or less, if you'd like)
Other veggies (short cook), if you have on hand. I used:
mushrooms (8 oz, sliced or diced)
snap peas (I only had about 4 oz, would have been yummy with more)
bell peppers (also about 4 oz)
Some sort of protein, already cooked (I used a 12 oz package of tofu, diced up. half a pound of diced cooked chicken would have been good too. if it needs cooked you can add it at the front instead of at the end)
Add the onions to the roux, and stir to combine (you could add the meat bits here, first, instead of the onions, if it needed cooking. Cook, and then add the onions). Cook about 5 minutes. I overcooked the onions as I was waiting for my stock to thaw - I don't recommend this. Add the potatoes, carrots, and stock. Bring to a simmer, and simmer until the potatoes/carrots are tender and the broth is thick and brown and yummy (about 20 minutes). Stir occasionally, because it will thicken first on the bottom and if you don't stir, the bottom thickness will burn and the top will still be watery. If the broth is not thickening as much as you'd like, sprinkle in a few teaspoons of cornstarch and stir in while simmering. Add salt to taste.
Once it is thick and carrots/potatoes are cooked, stir in the short cook veggies (the ones that if you cook to long they go mushy and limp) - for me, the peas, peppers, and mushrooms. Also whatever (thawed) cooked protein you want (I did diced tofu). Bring back to a simmer so everything is heated through, but don't cook them to mush.
Serve over rice! Yum!
Changes for next time: I should have used less potatoes, and left them in bigger chunks, they got pretty mealy by the end of the cooking time (also perhaps should have not used russets, but that's what we had). Should have ensured my chicken broth was thawed before starting. And I think next time I'll use regular firm tofu instead of extra firm.
How I made it, with commentary about where I would change things:
Curry Roux:
1/3 cup fat (I used vegetable oil, but butter or shortening or lard or whatever would work just as well)
About 1/4 cup flour
2 T garam masala
1 T curry powder
I think garam masala can be bought pre-packaged? I used this recipe, and am storing in an empty cumin bottle:
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Except I didn't have cardamom. And my coriander did not come pre-ground, so I was trying to grind it with my mortar and pestle and it only sort of worked (it was not so fine as might be desired). But this spice mix (in my opinion, anyways) contributes a lot to this curry being brown and hot/sweetinsh instead of yellow and TURMERIC flavored like my Indian curries always turn out. Also my Indian curries used more peppers in the base. And yogurt. ANYWAYS.
I did this in a big enough pot that I was able to add all the later ingredients to. I used my giant stir-fry pot but it would work just as well in a 1 gal spaghetti pot or something. You could get away with less large if you add less vegetables. There's also instructions out there for making the roux in one pot and the other things in a different pot. Do as you wish.
Making the roux:
Heat the fat to all liquid and thin like. Add the flour, stir til smooth. Keep stirring. Stir for a LONG TIME, until smells bready and is "fox colored" (I like the analogy, from one of the recipes I was using). I didn't quite stir constantly, I would stir, chop an onion, stir, start rice, stir, etc etc etc. But stir enough that it doesn't burn and keeps the color pretty even.
Once it is fox colored, stir in the garam masala and curry powder, and cook until "fragrant". This is when Woggy calls in from the living room "something smells like nom in there!". You can either cool and package the roux for later (supposedly, store tightly closed in the fridge for a week or frozen for a month, but I haven't tried it), or carry on with cooking the curry.
You should start the rice around now too (whatever kind you like) so it's ready when the curry is.
Curry ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth/stock
potatoes (5 medium russets was Too Many, maybe 3 next time?), chopped up into bigish pieces
carrots (3 big carrots was about right), chopped up (I cut them into disks on the diagonal)
onions (2 smallish), cut up
2 t salt (or less, if you'd like)
Other veggies (short cook), if you have on hand. I used:
mushrooms (8 oz, sliced or diced)
snap peas (I only had about 4 oz, would have been yummy with more)
bell peppers (also about 4 oz)
Some sort of protein, already cooked (I used a 12 oz package of tofu, diced up. half a pound of diced cooked chicken would have been good too. if it needs cooked you can add it at the front instead of at the end)
Add the onions to the roux, and stir to combine (you could add the meat bits here, first, instead of the onions, if it needed cooking. Cook, and then add the onions). Cook about 5 minutes. I overcooked the onions as I was waiting for my stock to thaw - I don't recommend this. Add the potatoes, carrots, and stock. Bring to a simmer, and simmer until the potatoes/carrots are tender and the broth is thick and brown and yummy (about 20 minutes). Stir occasionally, because it will thicken first on the bottom and if you don't stir, the bottom thickness will burn and the top will still be watery. If the broth is not thickening as much as you'd like, sprinkle in a few teaspoons of cornstarch and stir in while simmering. Add salt to taste.
Once it is thick and carrots/potatoes are cooked, stir in the short cook veggies (the ones that if you cook to long they go mushy and limp) - for me, the peas, peppers, and mushrooms. Also whatever (thawed) cooked protein you want (I did diced tofu). Bring back to a simmer so everything is heated through, but don't cook them to mush.
Serve over rice! Yum!
