Comments on: I love curry but my curry doesn't love me.

Question: I love curry but my curry doesn't love me.

fiercekitten — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:58:49 -0800

I'm looking for a good recipe for Japanese-style curry rice from scratch, without using the block of tasty curry roux. I love the "Vermont" & "House" brands, but really can't handle the wheat and soy. I'm pretty accomplished in the kitchen and can find unusual ingredients easily since I'm in a large metro area.

By: jadepearl

jadepearl — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:37:56 -0800

Believe it or not, the curry in Japan is the direct descendant of English curry from the 18-19th century. You can find a recipe for the primal English curry in Curry : A Tale of Cooks and Conquerers it should be under the Madras Curry chapter, if I remember correctly, but it could be under Curry Travels the World. It is an interesting and fun book; well researched and eye opening.

Once you have the source recipe you can make your changes so that you can handle the gluten and soy issues.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:34:19 -0800

This curry recipe looks like a happy medium between this overly-simple About.com recipe and this overly-complex Chowhound one. That it calls for yoghurt is promising, since I know Vermont curry has cheese in it.

By: vorfeed

vorfeed — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:36:46 -0800

There's a recipe for it here. I'm not sure how well it will approximate the flavor of the boxed ones, though... just from glancing at the ingredients, I suspect it must be missing something. And it's tough to find recipes, mainly because hardly anyone makes curry from scratch in Japan, even in restaurants. It really does come almost entirely from boxed roux.

That said, I feel your pain -- I can't eat starch anymore, and I miss katsu-kare terribly. Please let me know if you manage to come up with something that tastes good but cuts out the flour.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:41:11 -0800

Oh, and also unlike most, that recipe doesn't call for a flour-based roux, which is why I thought it would work for you. There's more about Japanese curry and the chef responsible for that recipe from web-japan.org.

By: jadepearl

jadepearl — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:35:00 -0800

You might be able to make they curry using different thickening agents besides flour including cornstarch and tapioca flour. The best resource for substituting wheat products is the gluten free forums so you can approximate the curry flavor based on your thickening agent.

By: fiercekitten

fiercekitten — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:14:04 -0800

I have a recipe I've been working on, if anyone wants it.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:21:19 -0800

Please, post away. I had a curry for dinner tonight (at Koji Osakaya), and found it rather mediocre, so my interest is piqued.