Japanese Beef Curry
Beef chuck, onions, carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, apple, and peas slowly simmered in beef stock and warming curry spices creates, from scratch, an amazing Japanese Beef Curry that is totally worth the wait.
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds boneless beef chuck
- 4 tablespoons shio-koji
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 yellow onions halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced or crushed
- 1 tablespoon ginger grated
- cup ¼ flour
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 tablespoon garem masala
- teaspoon ½ cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Tonkatsu sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon shio koji leave out if you can't find
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 cups beef stock/broth + 1 cup extra just in case you need to add more liquid
- 5 inch medium-large gold Yukon potatoes cut into 1 pieces (about 5 cups)
- 3 cups large carrots peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced on the diagonal (about 2 )
- 1 cup medium-large apple peeled, cored, and diced (about 1 )
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Cut the beef into 1 inch cubes and place in a ziplock bag with the shio-koji for one day. I was unable to find shio-koji so I skipped this step, but I'm still including it for those of you who wish to try tenderizing the meat in this way.
- Pour the cut beef into a bowl and season with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
- In a Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium high heat. Once the olive oil is warm add the beef. Brown each side for 3 to 4 minutes. Take beef out of the pot once browned and put on a plate, leaving behind the juices/fat.
- Add a tablespoon of butter and add the onions, garlic, and ginger and cook (stirring occasionally) for 7 minutes. The onions should be soft and creamy and beginning to darken in color.
- Add the flour and stir for 2 minutes. Add the curry powder, garam masala, cayenne pepper, sea salt, ketchup, Tonkatsu sauce, Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, shio koi, and honey. Mix well.
- Slowly pour 1 cup of the beef broth in and deglaze the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, stirring continuously. Add the remaining 3 cups of beef broth and bring the curry to a boil. Turn heat to low, add the beef back in, and simmer for 3 hours with the lid on.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, and apple and simmer on low for 2 more hours. Check the thickness. If you like it how it is, continue to simmer the curry for 1 more hour with the lid on. If you want your beef curry thicker, simmer 1 more hour with the lid off, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan.
- Add the peas, stirring them in and simmer for 5 more minutes or until the peas are done. Serve hot and steaming on top of rice.
Notes
When making a roux and soups, it is a lot easier if you have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go into the pot before you start. Ingredients are added very fast so have the flour measured and by your side, the sauces in one small bowl ready to add (ketchup, Tonkatsu sauce, Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, shio koi, and honey), the spices in another (curry powder, garam masala, cayenne pepper, and salt), and the beef broth measured out.