Japanese chicken curry

One of my favorite Japanese foods, aside from sushi, is Japanese curry over steaming hot white rice. Japanese curry is very different from Indian curry, in that it is not particularly spicy and has a more rounded savory flavor with hints of sweetness. Whereas Indian curry complements vegetables, Japanese curry goes best with meat. In fact, one way that Japanese restaurants often serve this curry is poured over a battered and fried cutlet of meat (pork, chicken, or beef). It is so delicious...

Anyway, it's really easy to make your own Japanese curry at home, because most supermarkets sell these curry roux blocks in their Asian aisle. Popular brands tend to be S&B Curry or Vermont Curry. All you have to do is cook the meat and vegetables for your curry, and then dissolve these curry blocks into boiling water to get a thick and delicious curry that will make the rice fly off your plates. It also makes for lots of leftovers, which is great if you don't have time to cook all the time.

The recipe itself is very flexible, so I'll just describe it generally. First you decide what vegetables and meat goes into the curry. I generally like to do it with chicken thigh meat, as it is very juicy, but chicken breast, pork, and beef all go well with it. In terms of vegetables, I suggest carrots and onions, and optionally potatoes if you would like more bulk in your curry. The box of curry blocks will tell you how much meat and vegetables to use, although you are free to adjust. Chop up all the ingredients into cubes.

Sautee the onions and carrots in a skillet while you boil the potatoes until they are soft. Drain the potatoes, then add the onions and carrots, along with a couple cups of water to the pot with the potatoes, bringing the liquid to a boil. Meanwhile, stir fry the meat in a skillet until 3/4 cooked through. Transfer meat to the pot of vegetables.

When the water comes to a boil and all the vegetables are soft to the bite, break the curry block into cubes and stir into the liquid to dissolve. Add more water as needed to achieve the desired curry consistency, but remember that more liquid means a more dilute curry flavor. This can be ameliorated with more curry blocks, but if you're using up a whole package and have no extras to spare, keep that in mind. When the curry starts to thicken, turn off the heat and ladle on top of rice to serve.