Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Japanese Beef and Vegetable Curry - Being A Copycat


Sous chef is quite a copycat.

Really?

I bet you guys must have cute nicknames for each other. When I created one, it will be copied immediately, and SC will instantly forget that the name was my idea. He'd soon think that he'd created it. But, these days, his creativity has gone through the roof. He gives me different nicknames almost every day, I am confused which names refer to me...one thing is for sure, though...all of them pretty much means "fatty" (Sigh. I guess I deserve this)

Being a normal guy, contrary to most people's belief that he is a metrosexual and shopaholic, he absolutely loathes shopping and is hardly interested in fashion. I could have been persuading him to buy certain things for the longest time, the answer is always NO. However, if some cute guys at work wore something that looks good, he will rush to the store and try to find a cheap copy of it (how annoying?).

These days, it gets even worse. SC likes to copy a friend of mine, cute couple Athena and Joe.
When Joe showed up wearing a hat, SC wants a hat too. He is rather obsessed with this, although he probably wouldn't want to admit it....and when he saw Athena made a gorgeous looking Japanese curry, as expected, he asked me to make the same too!

To make me feel better, I'll call it being inspired rather than copying. ^_*

Japanese and Vegetable Beef Curry

Recipe
(serves 4 with rice)
- 1 box of Japanese curry seasoning (Athena recommended S&B brand, I bought mine at Jusco $10 shop)
- 2 carrots (I skipped potatoes as I already have rice as carb)
- 1 large onion, chopped into large chunks
- 1 green pepper (I want the color)
- 4 chicken franks, chopped (I need to make this dish enough for 4 meals)
- 0.5 lbs beef cubes (you can replace with other protein, such as chicken, pork, fish, etc)
- olive oil, water
- optional: fish sauce, ground paprika, black pepper


First, saute beef cubes and chicken franks in hot olive oil until the beef changed color but not exactly cooked through, set aside. I did this because I didn't want to overcook the beef cubes and I want some color on the chicken franks.


Saute onion and peppers until fragrant, add carrots, add water (the amount of water should be written on the curry seasoning box, but naturally, I didn't follow, I just added enough to cover the vegetables). Bring to boil and cook until the carrot starts to soften.


Meanwhile, prepare curry seasoning blocks...


There were 6 blocks in the box, add four and keep two to add at the last step. This prevents the curry for being too thick too soon.


Mix well, make sure the curry blocks are dissolved, the curry will soon thicken.


Once the curry is thickened, add beef cubes and chicken franks...


...then add the last two blocks of curry seasoning. Mix well.


The curry is pretty much done, taste to check if any flavor's missing. Japanese curry isn't exactly my favorite, because of its sweetness and the way it is thickened using starch. Thus, I added some fish sauce for a bit of saltiness and tang, as well as ground paprika and black pepper for the extra kick of spiciness.

I served mine with a mix of red, brown and white rice.

How come my curry doesn't look as pretty as Athena's? T_T

I bet it's because I need to get the same cute little pink Le Creusset pot...YEAH! (It's my turn to be a copycat)
*SC is yelling...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!*

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go Rita! Go Rita! Go Rita! Ask SC to buy Le Creusset pot ASAP!!!

-ly-

foodbin said...

you made it looks so easy.

MONONOKE KITCHEN said...

This looks amazing,
you're a great chef!

YaYa said...

Le Creusset comes in pink? MIIIIINNNNEEE - gotta search for one now. Never seen curry cubes like you've used before must try one day.

Anonymous said...

GO Jap curry I like ^^! But then I like all curries hee hee and anything tasty in general haha

LOL so slack SC! I'm sure he is just playin :P your not fat at all!

Fearless Kitchen said...

This is really an interesting dish. Are the curry cubes at all salty?

Little Corner of Mine said...

I'm going to post my Japanese curry post tomorrow too, a coincident? :) I'm using another brand and I so love it. Yours are really packed with ingredients, yummy!

Jennifer said...

Oh WOW that looks SOOOO good! The curry box (which I have never seen before...) looks like chocolate! ha!

Jennifer said...

P.S I am now on the lookout for the pink Le Creusset !!!! :)

Cynthia said...

It's lunchtime and I'm hungry... maybe it's not a good time to be visiting your blog :)

Indonesia Eats said...

I usually use glico brand and choose the hot one which is not that hot for my tongue. Means I add chili/cayenne pepper powder

Unknown said...

ly, yes...it's all i can think about now...

foodbin, try it, it really is easy...

mononoke kitchen, nah, it should be the person who created the curry spice block

yaya, yes! pink! i heard it's japanese special edition or something...i think you may be able to find the curry cubes in japanese specialty store

ffichiban...hmmm i am kinda (especially by hk standard)...that's why i had nothing to say to that hehe

ben, wow! u gotta try cooking curry, easy and tasty, you'll get addicted

fearless kitchen, the curry cubes don't make the dish salty at all, it's spicy and a bit sweet

LOCM, yay to japanese curry! i think i went a little overboard with the ingredients

jen, go get the pink beauty!

cynthia ^_^ hehe blog walking before lunch eh?

daphne said...

hhe. the first time i made this, i thought the blocks look like chocolate!

tigerfish said...

Geez...I love Japanese curry seasoning...hee heee...

Noob Cook said...

oh my, looks good. Now I am "inspired" as well, haha

test it comm said...

Looks great! Japanese curries are one of my favorites!

angie yip said...

That looks good!!! Gotta try to get a box of those roux. Well what do men know about us ladies passion for cookwares and shoes anyway hehe...