Wednesday 2 January 2008

Japanese Style Curry


It is said that the Japanese love curry and from my experiences of the Toyota canteen in Brussels I wouldn't argue with that. Coincidentally I also love curry. Result.

The following recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. It follows two of my favorite philosophies in cooking, one, it's easy to do and two it's extremely tasty.

I think I'm turning Japanese.


Ingredients


Marinade for the Beef
  • 450g / 1lb of beef (use a good quality cut like fillet if you can, this recipes is good enough to deserve it!) cut at a slight angle into 1/4 inch (3 mm) slices
  • 5 tbsp tamari - tamari is a brand of Japanese Soy Sauce and has a very distinctive mild taste. Although you can substitute a light soy here, I'd recommend you get hold of the real deal as it does make a big difference to the taste. If you're in London this can be bought from the Japan Centre at Picadily Circus (this also has a useful on-line shop), if not check out your local Asian shops.
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp sake
  • 1 tbsp hot curry powder
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 1 tsp con, peanut or olive oil
  • 2 peeled, crushed garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated, or, as I prefer, hacked to bits with my trusty cleaver
  • 1 large Onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3-4 Carrots peeled and cut into 3 cm pieces

Sauce
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 6 fl oz (175 ml( beef stock) I cheat and use the bottled liquid stock that's readily available these days.
  • 2 tsp tamari
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp sake
  • 4 tbsp whipping cream
For final Cooking
3 tbsp corn, peanut or olive oil
1 medium Onion cut into thin half rings
2 medium carrots roll cut into 3 mm (1/4 inch) slices

Taking Care Of Business
  • Start by marinading the beef. In a bowl mix all the marinade ingredients and add the beef mixing well. Leave to marinade in the fridge for up to 2 hrs.
  • Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside. I tend to leave out the cream and add this in at the last minute of cooking. Then set aside.
  • When the beef has marinated heat the oil over a medium heat in a large non-stick pan
  • Stir fry the Onions and Carrots for around 4 minutes until the Onions are slightly translucent.
  • Add the beef with its marinade and fry, stirring all the time, for a minute.
  • Lower the temperature to medium, cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. Lif the lid and stir periodically in this time.
  • Take the pan off the heat and pour in the sauce.
  • Stir and cook on a medium low heat for another minute. This will heat the sauce and thicken it a bit, courtesy of the cornflour.
  • If you've not included the cream in your sauce, add it now. The last time I did this I forgot to add the cream and it still tasted exceptional. Good news if you're on a diet other than see food.
  • Stir once more and serve immediately. The Japanese would serve this with rice and Japanese pickles called fukujinzuke (sounds like a word that Ricky Gervais would use in When the Whistle Blows), I found it also works pretty well with some JalapeƱos on the side.
Enjoy !!!




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3 comments:

Pete Wright said...

I've found some Tamari soya sauce at our local Sainsbury's in Portsmouth - the Farlington branch. It was in one of the 'nice food' racks at the end of one of the aisles, i.e. the racks with amazingly priced balsamic vinegar, truffles in tiny jars etc.

George Ternent said...

Fantastic !!! I bought mine at the Japan Centre in London. Being over 100 ml I was forced to put my small overnight bag in the hold when I flew back to Scotland just before Christmas. I guess they thought I was going to Kamikaze the plane into the Houses of Parliament after whipping up a quick Teriyaki sauce for my in-flight meal.

George Ternent said...

I just found some Tamari in my local Tescos. It was in the speciality (overpriced) section. It's a Sanchi brand, so I don't know how good it is compared to the Kikkomen brand I used last time (which is excellent).