Comforting Japanese Chicken Curry

Japanese Chicken Curry is a mild yet comforting curry featuring bite-sized pieces of chicken cooked with carrots, potatoes, and onions. The rich and savoury curry gravy is sweetened with honey and grated apple before it is thickened and seasoned with homemade curry roux.

Japanese cuisine is full of home-style comfort foods. For lunch, there’s nothing better than decadent Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich on fluffy white milk bread. Speaking of eggs, these Ajitsuke Tamago are a great addition to any ramen but also make delicious snacks on their own.

Japanese Chicken Curry

Japanese food is so much more than sushi and ramen! Dishes like Karaage, katsu, teriyaki, and various izakaya (bar snacks) are a huge part of the cuisine too. There’s Japanese binchotan grilling, those gorgeous Japanese cheesecakes, mochi (check out my Red Lentil Mochi), and gyoza!

Then there’s Japanese Curry. I first heard about this dish when I made dumplings with Carol from The Office Broccoli. Adding boxed curry roux as a flavouring for our dumplings made me curious and I have been obsessed with making Japanese Chicken Curry ever since!

The Characteristics of Japanese Curry

Unlike other curry recipes, Japanese curry is mild in flavour and has a thick curry sauce. The base of the curry sauce typically consists of onions, carrots, and potatoes, which are sautéed until tender before being simmered with meat or vegetables. The sauce is then thickened with seasoned roux to give it its signature texture.

The key ingredient that sets Japanese curry apart from other curries is curry powder. Curry powder was introduced to Japan by the British during their colonial rule in India. However, the Japanese have adapted this spice blend to create their own unique version of curry powder that includes additional spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

Japanese curry is delicious over rice or noodles and can be made with various meats or vegetables. Some popular variations include chicken katsu (breaded chicken cutlets), beef, pork tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlets), shrimp tempura, or even just plain vegetables like eggplant or pumpkin.

In addition to its delicious taste, Japanese curry has also become popular due to its convenience. Many grocery stores offer pre-packaged instant curry roux blocks that combine with boiling water to create a flavourful sauce. All you need to do is add your favourite stew vegetables and a protein for a quick and easy meal.

However, homemade is almost as simple and certainly more delicious!

Ingredients in Japanese Curry

The flavours of a Japanese curry are exactly what you would think a curry made with store-bought curry powder should taste like. This classic curry flavour is accented by the sweetness of grated apple, honey and spices like cinnamon and cloves. Then there’s a tiny bit of heat from the cayenne.

For a vegetarian variation on this dish, it’s easy to add more vegetables instead of protein and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

• Vegetable Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Chicken Thighs
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Sweet Potato
• Carrot
• Chicken Stock
• Honey
• Apple
• Lemon
• Butter
• Flour
• Curry Powder
• Garam Masala
• Cayenne Powder

Any neutral oil will work in this recipe. Common ingredients are root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and Japanese yams in addition to aromatics such as garlic, ginger, and onion.

Feel free to substitute vegetable stock or even water in place of the chicken stock. The curry sauce will not lack in flavour!

This rich curry also has a signature sweetness to it. Ingredients like honey, grated apple and sweeter spices in the garam masala are great ways to sweeten a curry without adding any extra sugar.

As the curry roux contains flour as a thickener, this Japanese Chicken Curry recipe is not gluten free. However, you can replace the flour with your favourite gluten free thickening technique to make a gluten free version.

Curry Powder vs. Garam Masala

Curry powder and garam masala are different blends of spices, or masalas. While some regard garam masala as the closest approximation to curry powder, the two spice mixes still differ somewhat.

Store-bought curry powder has an earthy, complex, and aromatic flavor profile. It’s a lively blend which contains some or all the following: turmeric, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, ginger, and some cardamom.

It’s interesting to note that 18th century Indian spice traders developed curry powder to replicate the flavours of a generalized Indian curry, and the rest is history. The spice mixture spread like wildfire in the UK and found it’s way to Japan in the mid 19th century.

Garam masala doesn’t have set ingredients but usually contains the same spices as curry powder with the addition of bay leaves, star anise, cloves, and nutmeg. The flavour characteristic of garam masala tends toward a warm, slightly sweeter profile however personal and commercial mixtures vary greatly according to personal taste and regional variation.

How to Make Japanese Chicken Curry

To begin, add neutral vegetable oil to a Dutch oven or large pot, then add diced onion. Cook until the onion begins to soften then add the garlic and ginger. Cook a few more minutes.

Next, add chicken pieces and season them with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until chicken pieces have changed colour.

Add the sweet potatoes and carrots (and other vegetables) then cover with chicken stock. Grate the apple into the pot and add the honey. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, make the Curry Roux.

How to Make a Japanese Curry Roux

Home made curry roux is not that difficult, just a little time consuming. To begin, melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pan over low heat and stir in the flour. Stir continuously for 20-30 minutes or until the roux changes colour and looks like a copper penny.

Add the spices to the roux and cook for another minute, stirring continuously. Next, add enough ladles of the simmering chicken stock to the roux so that it becomes somewhat fluid. It will now be easier to incorporate the roux/stock into the simmering chicken and vegetables.

Lastly, add acidity to the rich curry with a splash of fresh lemon juice. Serve Japanese Chicken Curry with a side of steamed short grain rice and pickled ginger, pickle daikon or garlic scapes. You can also add a soft-boiled egg or Ajitsuke Tamago (marinated ramen egg).

Leftovers and Storage

Like most curries/stew recipes this Japanese Chicken Curry develops flavour as it ages and it always tastes better then next day as leftovers! Store it for up to 3-4 days in the fridge. Fully reheat the leftovers before consuming.

Hi! I’m Bernice Hill and I am the recipe developer, photographer, and writer here at Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen. It is my pleasure to share easy to follow recipes that are delicious, nutritious, and approachable for the whole family.

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