The Japanese adaptation of Indian-British curry: a thick, mildly sweet, brownish sauce of onions, carrots, potatoes, and meat (pork, beef, or chicken) thickened with a roux, served over short-grain rice. Introduced by the British Royal Navy in the late nineteenth century; now a household staple and school-cafeteria standard.
Japanese curry was introduced by the British Royal Navy during the Meiji era, modeled on the Indian-style curry that the British had adopted. Wikipedia documents that it became a household staple from the early twentieth century, and the invention of curry roux blocks in the 1950s made it effortless to prepare at home. The Japanese version is thicker, milder, and sweeter than Indian or Thai curries, adapted to the Japanese palate that did not use strong spices traditionally. It is served over short-grain rice rather than with bread or naan.
A plate of curry rice brings up a mound of white rice, half-drowned in a thick, dark-golden curry sauce packed with tender chunks of potato, carrot, and meat. The sauce is mild and comforting — sweet from the onions, savory from the meat, faintly spiced without heat. Eaten with a spoon, it is the most popular home-cooked meal in Japan.
Japanese curry rice rests on the roux-thickened sauce and the long-simmered aromatics. Onions are cooked slowly until deeply caramelized — this Maillard browning gives the sauce its dark color and sweet depth. The roux — butter and flour cooked together, with curry powder blended in — gelatinizes to thicken the sauce to a coating consistency. The addition of grated apple or honey (common in home cooking) adds sweetness; the use of curry roux blocks (pre-made blocks of seasoned roux) standardizes the flavor. Carrots and potatoes, simmered until tender, absorb the sauce and contribute their own sweetness. The result is a stew-like sauce far thicker than any Indian curry.
Variations
Katsu curry (with tonkatsu on top), curry udon, and soup curry (Sapporo) are variations; the thick roux-based sauce over rice is the constant.
On the Palate
Where Curry Rice sits in the Japanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
6 steps · 20 min
- 110 min
Saute diced onion, carrot, and potato in oil until onion is caramelized.
Watch outCook the onion slowly until deeply caramelized — that browning is the dark color and sweet depth of the whole sauce; pale onion makes a thin, flat curry.
- 25 min
Add diced meat; brown.
- 320 min
Add water; simmer until vegetables are tender.
- 45 min
Add curry roux blocks; stir until dissolved and thickened.
Watch outTurn the heat off or very low before dropping in the roux blocks, stir until fully dissolved and thickened — added to a hard boil they clump and leave raw lumps.
- 510 min
Simmer 10 more minutes.
- 65 min
Serve hot over cooked rice.
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