Dining with the Chef!

Curry rice is one of Japan's favorite dishes.

Japanese curry is different from curry in other countries.

It's more like a thick stew, made with a roux, containing seasonings and spices, poured over rice.

Using store-bought roux, makes for a quick and tasty meal.

Today let's take a look at Japanese curry rice.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world,

the boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine, not just from around Asia, but around the globe.

Our program host is culinary expert Rika Yukimasa.

Our co-host is Patrick Harlan, known in Japan as Pakkun.

Rika's Tokyo Cuisine.

Today Japanese curry rice, the ultimate taste of home. Let's get cooking.

Hello, everyone. And hello, Rika. What's on the program today?

Today's program is all about everyone's favorite, curry rice.

When you hear curry, you probably think of India and Thailand, countries with amazing, wonderful curries.

But Japanese curry rice, it's a totally different animal.

It's a roux thickened stew serve over hot Japanese rice. It's wonderful.

- It's super popular, isn't it?
- Right.

- It's really good for quick lunch or some people even eat for breakfast.
- That's right.

- According to the survey, actually, about Japanese people eat 80 servings of curry per year.
- 80 servings.

Today, we're going to use store-bought curry roux -

a mixture of oil, flour, spices, and other ingredients, packed with umami.

Curry roux is an instant mixture of curry spices, seasonings and roux.

And it usually comes in a block form like this.

You just break up as many boxes, blocks as you need and add it to your simmered ingredients

to make a super-fast and easy, delicious curry.

We're going to make a typical Japanese curry using typical ingredients.

Excellent. Well, curry is the ultimate comfort food in Japan.

So everyone get comfortable. Let's get started.

What do we do first?

- We're going to cook the rice first.
- Okay.

- You can't have curry rice without rice.
- Exactly.

No matter how hard you try to cook the perfect curry,

and then if you have wrong rice, you're going to ruin everything.

That's right. We definitely need to both cook the curry and the rice well.

So what's the main point to avoid making the rice too mushy or too hard?

Do you remember the ratio of rice to water?

1.2 of water to one of rice. Right?

- Exactly.
- Just add 20 Percent.

- Yes.
- Okay.

Start by rinsing the rice.

You'll need 150 grams per serving.

Gently rinse, to avoid bruising the grains,

stirring about 10 times to remove the bran and starch left over from the milling process.

Change the water and repeat 4 to 5 times, and that's it.

And the very important point when you're trying to make a curry rice is you want to reduce the amount of water a bit

because you're pouring over almost like a soup on top of rice.

The standard ratio of rice to water is 1: 1.2.

But because we're going to eat it with a stew-like curry, a slightly firmer texture tastes better.

So, reduce the amount of water by about 10%.

If you're cooking rice on a stove,

add the water and set aside for at least half an hour, to allow the rice to absorb water.

- Then we place and turn the heat to high.
- Okay.

And we'll wait until it gets boiled.

And you that you turn the heat to low and cook for 13 minutes.

One, three, 13. Okay.

- And now moving on to the curry.
- Yes.

So my impression is that you can make it was pretty much anything.

- Yes.
- What are typical ingredients?

Well, typical ingredients are potatoes and carrots and chicken and beef.

But every region, every family seemed to have specialty.

- Yeah. My family, we just use what's in the fridge.
- Yeah.

Let's just pull it out and make curry.

But today we're going to go with some standards.

- Onions, potatoes, carrots and of course, chicken.
- Chicken. Yes.

Now, let's prep the vegetables.

Peel and cut the potatoes, carrots, and onion, cut into easy-to eat pieces.

But there's one thing you have to keep in mind.

Well, the veggies look delicious. Is there any particular reason you cut them in these shapes or sizes?

Let me show you. This one, like potato takes shorter than carrots.

Carrots is very hard to cook.

- You mean the cooking time?
- Yes.

- Okay.
- So you want to cut it smaller than the potato.

Oh, I see.

The longer it takes to cook, the smaller you want the cut to be.

- Exactly.
- I got it.

- And now for the chicken.
- Yes.

Is there a way to cut the chicken?

- We're using chicken thigh, of course.
- Yes.

- It's a little bit fattier but just wonderful.
- Yes.

You can also use chicken breast or whichever. Chicken drums can be very good, too.

Western world, you kind of push. Right?

- In Japan, we kind of do this.
- That's right. You cut this like Sashimi action.

And everyone should also notice that she is cutting the meat after the vegetables.

- Yes.
- Why are you doing that again?

Streamlining the vegetable cutting process is a very important because you don't want to wash your cutting board.

If you if you use this, then you have to wash before you cut the vegetables.

Exactly. You've got chicken grease all over.

So you just have to cut the chicken second, cut down on the washing, which saves you time and energy and water.

- So it's good for the environment as well.
- Exactly.

So naturally, you cannot make curry without spices.

And even though we're using a store-bought roux, we're going to add some of our own, right?

Yes. By adding these extra spices, it's going to make a world of difference.

- Excellent.
- Yes.

- So today we are using coriander, cardamom, cumin, garam masala and chili powder.
- Yes.

You can use whatever spices you like, but Rika recommends these particular spices, for Japanese curry.

And for example, you can smell it's almost like tasting wine.

Coriander. It's kind of like floral and citrusy.

Oh, yeah, it does. It smells like a lemon stir-fry or a lemon like noodle dish. Hmm. Very good.

And this one is cardamom. Actually, this is my favorite spice.

You can tell, it's a really refreshing. It's also sweet. And then the fruity.

It smells like a fresh fruit or vegetable stand.

- Exactly.
- Oh, wonderful.

And this is cumin. It's very smoky.

- In a way, bitter.
- It smells like curry.

- Yeah.
- You smell cumin, you think, oh curry.

- Love it.
- Yes.

And this one is garam masala.

And this is actually the combination of various spices, including cinnamon and clove.

- So doesn't it remind you of Thanksgiving?
- Exactly.

Like the kitchens of American homes and Thanksgiving or Christmas season.

We cook with a lot of cloves and cinnamon and nutmeg. Oh, I love it.

Curry roux already contains a blend of spices,

so when adding extra spices, fry in butter first to release their aroma.

Japanese curry is great. Mild, sweet or hot.

- Just to your own preference.
- Yes.

And you don't want to burn this spice.

So once it's heated, you turn off the heat.

- Doesn't this smell wonderful?
- I love that.

You could just feed me a bowl of rice for that smell. That's good enough.

Avoid frying over high heat. Spices burn easily!

- And now we just add everything into the pan.
- Starting with the chicken.

- Yes.
- Okay.

And then from here, it's extremely easy.

This is the reason why we eat curry rice at the campfire place.

Because all you need to do is add everything into the pan

and pour over the water and then simmer.

When Americans think of campfire food, we think of, you know, hotdogs or maybe
marshmallows.

But here in Japan, a lot of people will bring a pot and make curry over a campfire.

And it's actually really easy.

All you have to do is cut the things up, throw them in a pot, boil it add the roux.

So we're going to bring it to a boil, just like rice and turn it down to simmer.

And how long do we simmer?

We're going to simmer about 20 minutes until potatoes and carrots gets softened.

Simmer until the ingredients are cooked through.

In the meantime, let's cook something else.

Well, Japanese curry rice is often served with toppings.

Sometimes we top with hamburger steak or...

or just fried scallops or fried shrimp.

And so now we're going to have breaded fried shrimps.

Peel the shrimp and remove the veins.

Massage with salt to draw out the excess moisture and fishy smell, and concentrate the umami flavor.

Rinse well to remove any fishy smell.

Make sure to pat dry with paper towels.

If you skip this step, the shrimp will be coated with too much batter, ruining the look and texture.

And then when you want to make a proper Japanese style shrimp, fried shrimp, you want to make a slit here.

Make a few slits along the belly.

This will keep the shrimp from curling up when fried.

Bend it backwards, so that it remains straight.

Now for the tail.

Tear off the sharp spike in the center of the tail. It can stick you.

Now, to remove the moisture inside the tail.

Cut off the tip at an angle, and scrape out the water.

So you've got the spike in the tail. You've got water in the tail.

Is there a reason you don't just cut off the tail?

Oh. I love the tails.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

You know, when you eat the crispy tail, it's...

it's even better than potato chips, I must say.

So you don't want to throw away this tail.

The tail of the fried shrimp is something of a delicacy.

Yeah. If nobody's eating, I'm just going to fry the tails and eat them with the beer. Yes.

Okay. So the preparation is done.

- Yeah. Let's get frying.
- Yes.

- Let's bread those shrimp before we fry.
- Yes.

- You're using?
- Flour and eggs and also "panko."

Okay. The traditional lineup.

- Okay. We start with the flour.
- Yes.

But you don't want to have too much because it gets kind of squishy in a way.

- Right. It'll absorb a lot of oil.
- Yes.

So you just add a little flour on the outside and wipe off the excess.

- Don't add too much flour.
- Too much.

Flour. And then go like this.

This is fun. You know, this is my favorite.

It's kind of fun job.

Then you don't need to worry about excess egg, do you?

- Nope.
- Okay.

- And then the panko?
- Yes.

Can our friends around the world find panko easily?

Panko had become quite popular ingredients all over the world.

So you can actually get it anywhere.

- Great.
- Okay.

- But if you can't, you can also make it.
- Exactly.

- Just get some fresh white bread.
- Yes.

You can dry the white bread a bit and then put it in the food processor and then just push the button. Yes.

Right. Does it make a difference when you're cooking with fresh panko versus store-bought panko?

When you have fresh ones, it tends to be bigger flakes.

So the result will be even crispier. Yeah. It's really good.

- When you have time, I guess it's really good idea to make your own panko and then put it in the fridge so you can use anytime.
- Cool.

And I forgot to tell you, I'm leaving out this tail part.

- I don't put panko.
- Why is that?

Because I want to leave this pink color coming out from the shrimp.

The one thing that we pay extra attention is we don't want to overcook the shrimp.

When you cook too much, then the meat gets really dry.

But if you cook to the right point, then it's really moist and soft.

So this is the thing I find the difference between American shrimp fry, which is good.

It's almost like that dry, enjoyable with beer.

- It's sort of like a snack.
- Yes.

Japanese version is... It's kind of moist.

So we have our oil heated to 170 degrees.

I've seen recipes that call for 180.

- What do you like about 170?
- You don't want to overcook the meat.

As I said, it's you want to have a moist moisture as part within this shrimp.

- So I don't want to cook it too high.
- Okay.

So you're going to leave it just a little bit rare-ish. Right?

- Exactly.
- Cook with some residual heat.

- Exactly.
- Okay.

Okay. So now on to frying.

What you do is you slowly place...

- The shrimp.
- That is nice. No spattering.

Maybe three each.

- There's that pink tail you were talking about.
- Yes.

And you don't want to kind of, like, push it around.

If you do it, and then the breadcrumbs will fall up.

Right. So you will lose flavor from your shrimp and you'll make your oil dirty.

- Yes.
- All right.

Fry until golden brown.

This is going to be good "Ebifurai."

Okay, this is already ready.

See? And what you do is when you take the shrimps out, as I'm always teaching you,

to have that the end part in the pan so that the oil will drape down.

Right. If it's pulled entirely out, surface tension sort of keeps the oil from dripping off.

This is a smart little step. Just a little step, makes a big difference.

Use a skimmer, to fish out any crumbs that have fallen off.

Otherwise, they'll burn and stick to the next batch of fried shrimp.

After cleaning the oil, test the temperature before adding more shrimp. Then start cooking again.

Beautiful. These are gonna be amazing.

- And the Ebifurai is done.
- Bravo.

All we need to do now is plate them.

- So our ingredients have been simmering for 20 minutes.
- Yes.

Let's check it out.

- Smells so wonderful.
- Amazing.

So you check if it's tender by poking by kind of like bamboo skewers or like chopsticks.

Once the ingredients are cooked through, turn off the heat, add the curry roux, and dissolve it.

Oh, smells so wonderful. Isn't it?

Everything is easy.

You just cut, simmer, add roux. And you done.

What about our friends who don't have store bought roux on hand? What can you do?

You can make this out of flour, butter and spices.

Here's the simplest way to make basic curry roux.

Melt butter in a pan, add flour, and cook over low heat, while stirring continuously.

Then add curry powder and other spices, and keep cooking.

Once it's evenly browned, it's done.

Add this to a pot of simmered ingredients, to make a thick stew-like Japanese curry.

- Good. So it's done.
- Okay.

And now we see the rice.

- I love that smell, too.
- Yes.

- Okay, now I'm going to plate it.
- Okay.

- Yes. This is cooked to perfection.
- Beautiful.

I love how rice sort of glistens and glows when it comes out of the pot.

Plate the rice and pour the curry over one side, so that it looks nice.

- Beautiful.
- Yes.

That looks amazing.

Smells wonderful.

Place the fried shrimp on a bed of lettuce or watercress so that they stand up.

Garnish with lemon wedges, for a splash of color.

- Looks nice.
- Thank you.

Well done.

And our Japanese curry and Ebifurai are ready to serve.

And now for the climax.

Look at that. It's gorgeous. I love it.

- "Itadakimasu."
- "Dozo."

- Oh, I love it.
- Thank you.

Comfort food is such a great term for it.

Japanese curry just makes you feel like you're eating a nice, warm, home cooked meal.

People are laughing and talking and telling stories about what happened to them during the day.

- It's just home cooking at its best.
- Right.

It's a wonderful Indian flavors, but it's got lots of umami from the from the rice and from the butter.

- But do you like the extra spices in it?
- For sure.

Because you put the ingredients first with the spices.

When you bite into the ingredients, even they have curry flavor.

- It's not just the sauce or the soup.
- Right.

Wonderful. And the chicken is great, too.

And all of it, of course, goes so well with Japanese rice.

- There's a reason we call this curry rice.
- Yes.

And not just curry. The combination is what makes it so special.

So the firmness of rice itself is also very important because you're eating like with sauce.

You don't want to have soggy rice.

So is has to be cooked to perfection.

Okay, let's move on to the Ebifurai, the fried shrimp. Oh, I love how you serve this.

And here are some sauces, that go well with fried shrimp.

Rika's Worcestershire sauce packs a nice punch.

Fried shrimp and mayonnaise is a perfect match.

And a creamy aurora sauce with mayonnaise and ketchup is also divine.

Ooh, let me try it with Worcestershire sauce, then.

- Mm, so crispy.
- Thank you.

The panko, which is exploding in my mouth, is wonderful.

And the shrimp cooks to perfection.

Not overcooked, not dry. A good Ebifurai.

So that Ebi is the star in the fry becomes like the adornment. So good.

I could eat this with each of these different varieties of sauce.

- But today I'm going to try with the curry.
- Yes.

Oh, that's so wonderful.

The panko does a great job of soaking up the curry flavors to the spices.

- Then it goes really well with the sweetness of the shrimp.
- Right.

Ebifurai and a curry.

There're, kind of, like, inseparable combination.

If they're served, people will just jump into it.

- Absolutely.
- Yes.

So, what do you think of Japanese curry rice?

You can add whatever ingredients you like, and it's so easy to make,

so it's a great dish for someone who is new to Japanese cooking.

Instant curry roux comes in varying levels of spiciness, so have fun trying out different types.

And, of course, you can always make Japanese curry rice from scratch.

Thank you for watching.

And I hope to see you again on Dining with the Chef.

Now for a recap of how to make delicious Japanese curry rice.

Cut the vegetables according to how long they take to cook.

Slicing the chicken at an angle will speed up the cooking process.

Rika used store-bought curry roux, but added five extra spices to boost the aroma and flavor.

Fry the spices in oil, add the chicken, vegetables, and water and start simmering.

After about 20 minutes, turn off the heat and add the curry roux.

Pour over fluffy rice, and it's done.

Next, Breaded Fried Shrimp ideal with curry rice.

Massage the shrimp with salt, rinse in water and make slits along the belly to prevent it from curling up.

Bread with flour, beaten egg and panko, and deep fry in oil, heated to 170 degrees Celsius.

Be careful not to overcook and dry out the shrimp!

Fry to a golden brown, and the fried shrimp is ready to serve.

Try these very popular Japanese dishes.

No need to tell anyone where you learned how.