I love curry omurice, menchi katsu curry, curry doria, curry udon, and curry croquettes. Yum. There are lots of great curry places in Japan with endless variations on Japanese curry, and I’m also disappointed it has not really caught on in most of the US. Though, you can always count on the food being not that great in America when it does. There are quite a few JP curry places around CA - like you said, in SoCal and also in the SF bay area, but many of them aren’t much to write home about. Like with the Curry House chains, they basically just use their House brand roux blocks, and their curry dishes taste so flat. Bleh.
I have many friends who are fans of Indian curry but not fans of Japanese curry. I think people just need to get rid of the expectation that it should taste like Indian curry, because it’s thicker, milder, and sweeter.
I love it. Try not to have it too often since it’s so high in fat and calories, but it’s sooooo good when the craving hits. I throw some cooked carrots, potato chunks, and shrimp in and serve it over white sticky rice, yum!
I recently introduced it to my boyfriend. He calls it “that stuff that looks like diarrhea but tastes really good.”
My wife is Japanese-American, and this is a staple around our house. We use it to dispose of all kinds of leftovers, especially London broil. I only wish it froze better.
What problem do you have freezing it? Is it just a little thin for you when you thaw, or something else? I don’t really find a problem with freezing japanese curry, other than I sometimes have to thicken it again a little bit with a little slurry.
Haven’t had it a lot, but I made some on my own in the slow cooker a while back that was pretty good. (Now I no longer have a slow cooker due to lack of counter space; that makes me sad.)
There’s also a Japanese curry joint down the street, Curry-Ya, that is part of some sort of Japanese Food Empire of the East Village. Good stuff. I’m working my way through the rest of their places. (So far, Rai Rai Ken, the ramen shop, is the crown jewel.)
Yeah, I had it a couple of times while living in Japan, and while I didn’t find it objectionable or anything I don’t understand why anyone would bother to seek it out in the US unless they grew up eating it.
Gosh. I have to say I am shocked at the love for the stuff. To me the question is like asking about Japanese-Italian food (basically noodles with ketchup). It’s thick starchy and very sweet.
I have it a few times a month. Sometimes, JpnGal prepares it from roux, sometimes I heat up an instant version or we go to a local place. I top mine with “katsu” (breaded pork cutlet) and cheese.
After reading this thread, I just made some Java brand curry today. Yum. I was reading the ingredients list and I was surprised, to say the least. Not only does it have the usually roux & curry powder, but also peanut butter and cheese powder (both cheddar and gouda.) I’ve made Japanese curry from “scratch” before using S&B curry powder, but never one that had peanut butter and cheese products in it. I was wondering if the cheese was just for the glutamates, but the curry cubes themselves have autolyzed yeast extract as well as disodium glutamate in them already. Is cheese normal in a Japanese curry?
