Hi everyone
I'm making a recipe and it says to use 1 box of the roux. Using a whole box seems like alot. Does it mean the whole box or 1 square
What other way can I make vegetarian japanese curry? With or without the roux
Follow the instructions on the curry box. It should break apart into pieces like a chocolate bar.
You can also just add one square at a time and keep tasting it until it's the strength you want.
Start by boiling potatoes, carrots, onion. When they soften add roux. It's a pretty forgiving recipe
頑張って！
I've been using these for years, and have found that slicing up the squares can help a lot with getting them to melt properly. Undissolved curry-square can be a bit on the nasty side.
Also, these contain a lot of palm oil unfortunately, so you probably want to add them right at the end of the cooking process.
Go to an Asian grocer and get the House Java curry blocks. It’ll pretty much ruin the golden curry roux cubes for you.
Edit: I usually cut the roux cubes up and mix it with boiling water in a bowl and whisk it to avoid lumps. Here’s a recipe I use as a base (but in a pressure cooker). Isn’t vego but can be modified. Makes heaps of great curry.
Some Japanese people swear by adding some chocolate to curry.
After trying it, they're not wrong.
Actually all three.
Chocolate is one of my seven secret herbs and spices in my chili. It really bams up the bitter flavor in a nice way, without giving an over-weaseled texture to he dish.
Bam!
Instant coffee works too
Some diced apple adds a nice touch too.
Some people recommend mixing Java and Golden.
I've never heard of these products. What exactly is Japanese curry, and what does it taste like?
It’s much less spicy than most other curry. Even the “hot” versions are like barely detectable heat. It also often has apple and honey added for sweetness, and I would say it’s saucier than other curries. It’s good if you approach it as its own thing, but very different from like a British-style curry and even more different from anything you would find in India.
The product in the picture is a curry roux block, which looks a bit like a big Hershey chocolate bar with squares that can be broken off. It’s like a sauce concentrate. You start cooking your meat and vegetables in a pot, add just enough water to cover everything, then add cubes of roux. The roux has everything necessary to make a complete sauce, but lots of home cooks have their own blend of things they add to adjust, like the aforementioned grated apple and honey, or ginger, garlic, mirin, tonkatsu sauce, etc.
Imo it taste much better and the texture is better too, more “velvety”. There are variants of the photo that are sweeter/have apple flavour. I like the stock standard Java stuff. I added a link to the recipe I started with initially in the original comment since there’s a few of replies.
I'm not sure how to describe it, but its way different from my expectations and I feel like one day I'll eat or drink something and say "it tastes kinda like japanese curry"
Japanese curry is peak savory food. Nothing like Indian or Thai curries at all, very much its own thing. Not usually spicy at all, but can be if you want.
Sort of between a sauce and a stew. Sometimes with veggies in it, sometimes just a homogenous thick delicious stuff. Goes great over rice, and especially with breaded things like tofu or, if you eat meat, chicken or pork. The curry sticks to the breading and, fuck, my mouth is watering just typing this up.
If you're curious, see if any Japanese restaurants near you make Japanese curry, or try the grocery store roux boxes like in the OP. Basically just cook down some onions and add the roux with water, carrots, and potatoes and then simmer for a bit. Can add whatever else you'd like, tho carrots and potatoes go really well with it.
Thanks for the tip, I'm gonna try this.
Didn't knew about this brand, will look for it next time I go shopping.
Confirm Java is the best roux one can reasonably get outside of Japan
My additions to the box recipe: I cut the veg a bit smaller, I brown the veg a bit (including potatoes, but you have to have a dry starchy potato type like russet for this to work otherwise precooking it will lead to it just becoming mush during the boil and thickening the sauce), add honey and some kind of neutral hot sauce because Japanese “spicy” is like not even a little spicy. I actually now use one of those ultra extreme spicy 10 billion scoville capsicum extract sauces, literally a few drops in a pot makes it decently spicy and otherwise adds no flavor.
Unless you live alone you might as well make the whole box in one recipe imo. It keeps for several days, reheats easily, and it’s one of those “tastes better day 2 and 3” kind of meals. The only thing is that freezing it doesn’t work so well (sort of). Freezing busts up the cell walls in the potatoes so even if you use a dry starchy potato like above it will turn to mush once you thaw and reheat. It’s not bad, but it does change the texture with a thicker sauce and much less potato “chunks” (some bits usually survive).
The only better thing I’ve found is to make a roux from scratch but honestly it’s not that much better (and probably worse until you dial it in) but a lot more work. The roux is like $4 a box at my local market and making it is like an entire Saturday plus way more money in ingredients especially if you don’t have a well stocked spice rack
Hello, I've had both of these boxes and they do mean one entire box (I'm surprised there are so many comments and no one is answering your question).
My recommendation is to halve the amount of liquid and meat, while keeping the vegetable amounts the same, and use half a box of curry roux (note: I always use a whole carrot, I've never use half). One box includes two packets with 4 vaccuum sealed cubes in each, so half a box is much easier to make than a quarter.
The flavor is the same, and it's great. I've tried it and can confirm that if you use any less it'll be a bit too watery. Likewise, if you use less than half then that means any leftovers will no longer be sealed (unless you use scissors while peeling off the plastic to preserve the seal on half a packet)
Here's a source where you can double check the recipe.
Also, trust me when I say it isn't too much. It produces a crazy amount of curry. Half a box is enough for one dinner, plus two servings of leftovers, for a single guy like myself. A full box is basically designed to feed a family.
Tastes great, mightily convenient! I always add the whole box and it never occurred to me not to - I don’t see how the sauce would thicken up if you didn’t, plus there’d be no flavor.
This is actually how I discovered my family was hit by covid back during the pandemic. This was the first food where we noticed that two of us could neither smell nor taste it, a hallmark of early covid
Yet it also says for half pack cooking use half the ingredients with 660ml of water
I made that stuff a ton backpacking across Japan, it means one square unless it's supposed to serve four people.
I usually used 1 to 2 squares each meal for myself, feel free to add a first cube, mix it in, then add more until you get to your desired consistency.
If it's just you and a single meal, all 8 pieces is probably going to be too much.
my gosh, japanese curry while backpacking sounds incredible
Curry was always such a satisfying ending to a long day of hiking. I carried some noodles in my pack, a box of curry cubes and bought fresh vegetables from the first roadside seller or stall I saw when I got hungry. Filled up my cookpot with some water, poured rubbing alcohol into my alcohol stove and had piping hot japanese curry with mushrooms and spinach and noodles a few minutes later ahhhh it was so good. For 3 months straight I had curry every other day, when I wasn't chowing down on sushi and sashimi.
The back of the box should have some info on the number of squares needed by proportion. Match it up with the serving size of the recipe you’re following.
These are so good. But they are never as spicy as I expect them to be
I recently saw "Extra Hot" at the local Asian market, so I picked it up. Still not that hot. Next time I may throw a couple of dried arbol chilis in.
I find that it stands for spice-level, not heat-level. And that spice-level is how much of the general spices they add, not chili spices.
If it's chili spice you're looking for, an Indian curry might work out better than a Japanese curry
The flavours are entirely different though. Just saute your favourite chilis or hot peppers if you want to boost the spice level
Japan doesn't like spicy food for the most part. In the last 10 or so years they've gotten a little better about it, but it used to be that just about any restaurant with a "extremely hot" option (for ramen or whatever) would have a barely detectable level of heat. Just about the hottest thing you could commonly find was tabasco.
These are good tips. I gotta get some potato starch tomorrow so I might grab some of these for experiments
I like to use a bit of my own blend with half to stretch out the box. But in your case just use the whole box. I like to cut the bars into small pieces then smoosh it into a powdery kind of texture so that the flour incorporates much easier and smoother into the pot. I also just remove meat from the dish.
Bonus: add a bit of Worcestershire sauce and a teaspoon of honey.
I also just remove meat from the dish
Worcestershire sauce
I'm not sure if you're removing the meat because you're a vegetarian but if so, you should be aware that Worcestershire sauce is made with anchovies.
I'm mostly vegetarian, it's a bit complicated.
No judgment here! Just wanted to make sure it was an informed decision.
I use one square per serving I'm making.
I've used these, and made it by the instructions. A tip. You have to stir a lot to get the squares to dissolve nicely instead of gloopily clinging to the veggies/meat/whatevers. Just keep stirring and stirring.
What does your recipe say about the other ingredients, especially the liquids? The whole box is for 1200ml water, but you can use a quarter of that "chocolate bar" with 300ml or two quarters with 600ml.
I save a link on Dinner By Dennis where they share all the different types of Curry around the world and a little history of the dish.
Here is the link https://dinnerbydennis.com/the-complete-curry-recipe-guide/
I had no idea something like this actually exists. Thanks for enabling me to know!
It depends on the amount of curry you are making, I normally use half a box which break into 4 pieces just like a chocolat bar.
are you making curry just for yourself and for how many days? For me, usually, one such box is equivalent to 3-4 portions of curry
I usually use 4 squares; 1 square per person
This is the answer. 1 square to 300ml water works well.
Also the blacka and gold box is best!
My favorite recipe to make is this Japanese chicken curry with rice (cooked with star anise, cloves, cardamom, and a bay leaf). My friends used to love it. This is reminding me to make it again. Lasts for days if you make too much!
I always do just carrots, potatoes, and sautéed onions. You can do fried or sautéed tofu instead of chicken like I use, and I bet it would be just as amazing!
Happy cooking!
Taken a nice photo of your creation? We highly encourage sharing with our friends over at !foodporn@lemmy.world.
Posts in this community must be food/cooking related. Recipes for dishes you've made and post picture of are encouraged but are not a requirement. Posts of food you are enjoyed or just think like food are welcomed as well.
Posts can optionally be tagged. We would like the use and number of tags to grow organically. Feel free to use a tag that isn't listed if you think it makes sense to do so. We encourage using tags to help organize and make browsing easier, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to.
[QUESTION] What are your favorite spices to use in soups?
!bbq@lemmy.world - Lemmy.world's home for BBQ.
!foodporn@lemmy.world - Showcasing your best culinary creations.
!sousvide@lemmy.world - All things sous vide precision cooking.
!koreanfood@lemmy.world - Celebrating Korean cuisine!
While posting and commenting in this community, you must abide by the Lemmy.World Terms of Service: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
Failure to follow these guidelines will result in your post/comment being removed and/or more severe actions. All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. We ask that the users report any comment or post that violates the rules, and to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting.