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Kare Raisu (Japanese Curry Rice with Chicken)

By Lan Lam

Published on October 2, 2023

Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 4

Kare Raisu (Japanese Curry Rice with Chicken)

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 onion, chopped (about 1¼ cups)2½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger 1 garlic clove, minced1 pound Yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces2 carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)2⅔ cups chicken broth ½ Japanese Curry-Roux Bricks recipe 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 4 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice 1 scallion, sliced thin on bias Fukujinzuke (Japanese Pickles for Curry) or pickled ginger or lemon wedges

Before You Begin

Fukujinzuke is a traditional mixture of sweet-tart (sometimes vibrantly pink or red) pickled vegetables. Look for it in vacuum-sealed packages in the refrigerated section of your local Japanese or Korean grocery store, or make your own.

Instructions

  1. Toss chicken and 1 teaspoon salt in bowl. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is browned, about 8 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  2. Add chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in potatoes and carrots. Add broth and bring to simmer over high heat. Adjust heat to maintain gentle simmer and cook until potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes.
  3. Add curry-roux brick, soy sauce, and Worcestershire, and let block dissolve, about 1 minute. Stir gently, scraping curry from bottom of pot, and simmer until liquid thickens, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Divide rice evenly among 4 shallow bowls, spreading it over half of each bowl. Divide curry evenly among bowls, making sure to ladle curry next to rice. Sprinkle scallion over curry and serve with fukujinzuke, pickled ginger, or lemon wedges.

Kare Raisu (Japanese Curry Rice with Chicken)

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By Lan Lam
4.5(178)
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Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped (about 1¼ cups)
2½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound Yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
2⅔ cups chicken broth
½ Japanese Curry-Roux Bricks recipe
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice
1 scallion, sliced thin on bias
Fukujinzuke (Japanese Pickles for Curry) or pickled ginger or lemon wedges

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped (about 1¼ cups)
2½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound Yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
2⅔ cups chicken broth
½ Japanese Curry-Roux Bricks recipe
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice
1 scallion, sliced thin on bias
Fukujinzuke (Japanese Pickles for Curry) or pickled ginger or lemon wedges

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped (about 1¼ cups)
2½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound Yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
2⅔ cups chicken broth
½ Japanese Curry-Roux Bricks recipe
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice
1 scallion, sliced thin on bias
Fukujinzuke (Japanese Pickles for Curry) or pickled ginger or lemon wedges

Why This Recipe Works

Kare raisu, or curry rice, is Japan's go-to comfort food: a bowl filled with fragrant spiced stew (the curry) on one side and a mound of steamed rice on the other. Cooks typically make the curry by adding a commercial curry-roux “brick” (roux that's seasoned with Japanese curry powder and sometimes umami boosters, and solidified) to the cooking liquid, doctoring the velvety gravy with additional seasonings, and bulking it up with vegetables and/or proteins. But it's easy to fully customize the dish by making your own curry roux, and the bricks freeze well and are great for pulling out anytime you need a fast, hearty meal. In this version, the roux was cooked only until golden brown (not darker, like many commercial versions) to allow the spices to stand out and to maximize the roux's thickening power since browning the fat-flour paste weakens its ability to thicken liquid. Carefully blending the spices resulted in a warm, delicately sweet-savory curry powder, and starting with commercial ground spices made for a smoother curry than one made from spices ground at home. Adding a little sugar and miso rounded out the flavors of the curry roux, and refrigerating it in a loaf pan molded it into a flat “brick” that could easily be halved and used to make two batches of curry rice. To make the stew, we sautéed aromatics (onions, garlic, ginger) and chunks of seasoned boneless, skinless chicken thighs (succulent and easy to prep); added chicken broth as well as carrots and potatoes (both classic in Japanese curry); and simmered until everything was cooked through. The curry-roux brick plus dashes of soy and Worcestershire sauces added during the last few minutes of cooking seasoned and thickened the stew.

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Before You Begin

Fukujinzuke is a traditional mixture of sweet-tart (sometimes vibrantly pink or red) pickled vegetables. Look for it in vacuum-sealed packages in the refrigerated section of your local Japanese or Korean grocery store, or make your own.

Instructions

  1. Toss chicken and 1 teaspoon salt in bowl. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is browned, about 8 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  2. Add chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in potatoes and carrots. Add broth and bring to simmer over high heat. Adjust heat to maintain gentle simmer and cook until potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes.
  3. Add curry-roux brick, soy sauce, and Worcestershire, and let block dissolve, about 1 minute. Stir gently, scraping curry from bottom of pot, and simmer until liquid thickens, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Divide rice evenly among 4 shallow bowls, spreading it over half of each bowl. Divide curry evenly among bowls, making sure to ladle curry next to rice. Sprinkle scallion over curry and serve with fukujinzuke, pickled ginger, or lemon wedges.

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