We ate at a special dinner at Tsubaki, a favorite local Japanese Restaurant. There was a book signing for the Cookbook: Japanese Home Cooking by Sonoko Sakai and we all got a Japanese Cookbook. This recipe for Japanese Chicken Curry with Relish of the Seven Lucky Gods was from the book, but unfortunately we either didn't follow the recipe correctly or the recipe just isn't excellent. No matter, we didn't like it. But that doesn't mean you can't try it for your self!
Japanese Home Cooking
Sonoko Sakai
My mother always made curry with S&B or House foods curry bricks, just as convenient as bouillon cubes. I like the convenient part, but I don’t care for all the additives that go into most of these store-bought brands. So I started making my own by blending a variety of spices including turmeric, which gives my curry a bright mustardy yellow color and pungent flavor. First you will need to make your own Japanese Curry Brick which you can keep in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for 3 months. The base stock is a cold-brew kombu and shiitake mushroom dashi, which can, like the curry brick, be made ahead of time. The curry is traditionally served with rice or noodles and fukujinzuke, a classic pickle made with seven vegetables, a perfect crunchy counterpart to the soft, mild curry.
Makes 4 servings
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-1/2 pounds boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 carrots, cut into bite-size pieces
1 celery stalk, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pound Yukon Gold, russet, or other potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size piece
8 cups Bonito and Kombu Dashi or chicken stock
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
2 tablespoons sake
½ recipe Japanese Curry Brick (recipe follows)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Fukujinzuke
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and add the onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, dashi, honey, soy sauce, and sake, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by a third. Add the curry brick, stir to break it down, and continue simmering until the sauce is thickened but still pourable and reduced by about two-thirds, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Remove from heat and serve with rice and fukujinzuke.
japanese curry brick
Most Japanese cooks rely on prepared curry bricks to make curry. These are basically blocks of seasoned roux—the shape of a chocolate bar- made of spices (including turmeric, coriander, cumin, and fennel), salt, flour, and butter that can be dissolved in water to make an instant curry sauce. My brick is on the mild side, so if you like it spicier, add the cayenne pepper. To make your' curry block gluten-free, chickpea flour is a good alternative that is used in Indian curries. If using chickpea flour, it will be soupy in consistency. You can add a tablespoon of mochiko (glutinous rice flour) diluted with equal amounts of water to thicken the curry.
One curry brick in this recipe makes about three of Japanese-style curry. You can break up the brick into three pieces and store it in the refrigerator. This recipe makes more curry powder than you will need for the brick. You can use the remaining powder to sprinkle on vegetables and salads or save it for the next batch of brick.
FOR THE CURRY POWDER
1 tablespoon brown or black mustard seeds
1 2-inch (piece of cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
1 bay leaf
2 to 3 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
½ teaspoon whole cloves
1-1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
FOR THE ROUX
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour or chickpea flour
In a medium skillet, toast mustard seeds, cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom pods, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and cloves over medium heat, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Transfer the toasted spices to a spice grinder, add the peppercorns, and grind at the highest speed for 30 seconds. Shake the grinder a couple of times to make sure the cinnamon stick is pulverized. Sift the ground spices through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl. Add the paprika, ginger, turmeric, salt, and cayenne, if using. You will have 2/3 cup of the ground spice mix.
To make the curry brick, put the butter in a medium nonstick skillet and pi ace over medium-high heat. When the butter is nearly melted, turn the heat to low. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the roux turns light brown, 15 to 20 minutes, being careful not to let it bum. Add 1//3 cup of the curry powder and mix well. Transfer the seasoned roux to a small container or mini aluminum loaf pan measuring 5-1/4 x 3-1/2 x 2 inches. Let stand at room temperature until the roux is set about 3 hours, but you can start using the curry brick in liquid form if you wish to make curry right away.
To store, take the curry brick out of the container and wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month or in the. freezer for up to 3 months.
