Easy Japanese Chicken Curry Recipe

Japanese curry is unbelievably popular among Japanese people. There are curry restaurants all over Japan and Japanese family restaurants will always have a few curry dishes on the menu. Japanese curry tends to be sweeter and not as spicy as Indian curry. 

In this recipe I'm using S&B instant curry paste so it doesn't take long to prepare and tastes great! This particular brand is very popular in Japan. I bought this in the Asian supermarket which is located on Drury Street in Dublin and Merrywell Business Park, Ballymount, Dublin 12.  They stock S&B curry paste mild, medium and hot.

The meat and vegetable measurements below are just a general guide to make this curry but you can add less or more depending on what you prefer.

Ingredients: 

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
250g chicken breast (cut into bite sized cubes) 

2 medium carrots (cut into bite sized cubes)

1 medium potato (cut into bite sized cubes) 

700ml water 

120g curry paste (half pack)

Instructions: 

1. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan on medium heat and fry the onions for a few minutes and remove from saucepan.  
2. Add a little more oil to the saucepan if necessary and turn the heat to high. Place the chicken pieces in the saucepan and brown on both sides to seal the flavour.
3. Add the onions, carrots and potatoes and mix all the ingredients together in the saucepan. Fry for a few minutes on medium heat to allow the vegetables to absorb the flavour of the chicken.
   
4. Pour 700ml of water into the saucepan, place the lid on the saucepan and bring to the boil. Then turn the heat to low and simmer until the vegetables are cooked (about 15 minutes). 
5. Cut the curry paste into square pieces and place in a cup and add some of the water from the saucepan and mix using a fork or small whisk removing any lumps. Add to the saucepan and stir using a wooden spoon. Let it simmer until you are satisfied with the consistency of the curry (5 minutes or less). If it's too thick then just add a little water.

Serves 4-6 people

How to eat: 

Serve on a plate with rice on one side of the plate and the curry on the other side of the plate. Then place a little pickled vegetable on the side of the plate.

Tips: 

1. Use chicken leg or thigh instead of chicken breast as it's not as dry, is cheaper and tastes better!
2. Add chilli if you like a bit of a kick in your curry! 
3. If there's any leftover curry either freeze (probably best to avoid freezing the potato pieces) or use it for a bowl of curry noodles!

Why not: 

Add your favourite meat (beef, pork etc), seafood (shrimp, prawn) or a meat alternative such as tofu or your favourite vegetables (broccoli, sweet potato, peppers, aubergine). 

How to prepare and cook Japanese Rice

Click here to see the Japanese rice that I buy in Superquinn and the Asian market on Drury St in Dublin (they also have another store in Merrywell Business park, Ballymount, Dublin 22).

Instructions:

1. Measure 2 cups of Japanese white rice.   
2. Place the rice in a medium sized bowl and add cold water. To wash the rice use your hand to gently rub the rice grains against each other.
3. Drain the rice and add more water. Continue to clean the rice and replace the water until the water runs almost clear.  
4. Add the rice to a heavy based saucepan if you don't have a rice cooker.  
5. Add 2 cups of cold water to the rice in the saucepan (always add the same amount of water as rice).  
6. Put the lid on the saucepan and turn the heat to maximum. When the water starts to boil reduce the heat and leave the rice cooking for about 10 minutes (try not to remove the lid).
7. Then, turn off the heat and leave the rice standing for another 10 minutes. Now, remove the lid and using a rice spatula turn the rice from the wall of the saucepan towards the middle to get a nice fluffy and sticky white rice. 

How to eat:
Serve in individual bowls if you're having a traditional style Japanese meal. Since Japanese rice is sticky it's easy to eat with chopsticks compared to other types of rice.

Tips:  

1. To make the rice tastier leave the drained washed rice sitting for about 10 minutes before cooking. Or my Japanese homestay mother use to leave the rice and water sitting in the rice cooker for about an hour before cooking.
2. Make sure to wash the rice properly using your hand. How you wash the rice is just as important as how you cook the rice to get the perfect bowl of sticky Japanese rice! 

Why not: 

Add your favourite vegetable and some sake to the rice (tiny pieces of carrots or peas go very well).