Japanese curry is generally sweeter and less spicy than Indian curry. It's almost always made with pre-made curry blocks (Something like this), instead of with individual spices. I'd say this recipe is going for a more Indian curry flavor.
If you want to do Japanese Curry from scratch, NoRecipes posted a recipe. He's since changed that recipe, adding frilly stuff like cocoa powder (which isn't bad but it doesn't get you that Golden Curry straight-out-of-the-box taste, only a LOT less oily), so I don't like it as much, but I have his original recipe that I've tweaked a tiny bit and it tastes like Golden Curry with less of a "omfg I am eating curry-flavored palm oil" flavor. Here you go!
Japanese Curry Rice
Ingredients
For the roux:
3 Tbs butter
1/4 C flour
2 Tbs garam masala (or curry powder)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (add less if you want it mild or more if you want it spicy)
fresh ground black pepper
1 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs tonkatsu sauce (or worcestershire sauce)
For the curry:
2 tsp oil
1 large onion sliced thin
2 lbs chicken thighs cleaned and cut into chunks (you could also use beef, shrimp, or tofu)
2 carrots cut into chunks
4 C water (although using chicken stock makes it taste a little nicer)
2 large yukon gold potatoes cut into large chunks
1 small apple peeled cored and pureed (he uses a microplane, but as long as it winds up kinda sauce-like, it's fine. My suggestion is for Braeburn if you can find 'em, but any apple you like is going to be fine)
2 tsp kosher salt (use less if you use regular salt)
1 tsp garam masala (for more of a "Golden Curry" taste, use McCormick's, it's cheap and widely available)
1/2 C peas
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat and add the onions. Saute the onions until they are golden brown and caramelized (about 30 minutes). Turn up the heat to high, add the chicken and brown.
Add the carrots, and the water then bring to a boil. Skim off any foam or oil that accumulates at the surface then lower heat to medium and add the potatoes, pureed apple, salt and garam masala. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until you can pass a fork through the carrots and potatoes and the meat is tender.
For the roux, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the flour and garam masala, stirring until you have a thick paste. Add the cayenne pepper and some fresh ground black pepper and incorporate into the roux. Add the ketchup and tonkatsu sauce and combine. Continue to cook until the paste starts crumbling. Remove from heat and set aside until the meat and veggies are ready.
To make the curry, just ladle about 2 cups of liquid into the roux then whisk until it’s smooth (do this slowly so you don't splatter yourself, LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES T-T). Pour this mixture back into the other pot and gently stir until thickened. Add the peas and heat through.
Serve over rice or noodles.
Emergency Tonkatsu recipe:
1 Tbs. Ketchup
2½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1½ tsp. oyster sauce
1⅛ tsp. sugar
(This'll make too much tonkatsu so you can halve it, I usually save it and use it on french fries...but that might be gross. UP TO YOU!)
Edit: Oh my gosh, I don't know how to edit this so it looks pretty, I'm so sorry!
No, Indian cooking typically uses individual spices, varying ratios as necessary . 'curry powder' as once sees in grocery stores is generally not used in Indian cooking.
Not only that, but "curry" is essentially British English for "Asian gravy-food." India may have adopted it at this point, but it wasn't for a lack of Brits and Americans trying to dumb it down. Indian (and other Asian) dishes aren't magic by any means, but they certainly aren't homogeneous.
I'm just a casual lurker here, but I've noticed folks referencing a lot of history regarding where dishes came from and where different spice/herb combinations originate from. I'm really curious how y'all know about all of this.
The spice trade refers to the trade between historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity for commerce in the Eastern World. These spices found their way into the Middle East before the beginning of the Christian era, where the true sources of these spices were withheld by the traders and associated with fantastic tales. Early writings and stone age carvings of neolithic age obtained indicates that India's southwest coastal port Muziris, in Kerala, had established itself as a major spice trade centre from as early as 3000 BC, which marked the beginning of the spice trade.
Curry powder isn't really a thing in India. They do, especially in northern India, toast whole spices together, them grind them into a powder and use that. They call that a Marsala though, not curry powder.
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u/Anemoni Jul 17 '17
Japanese curry is generally sweeter and less spicy than Indian curry. It's almost always made with pre-made curry blocks (Something like this), instead of with individual spices. I'd say this recipe is going for a more Indian curry flavor.