Japanese-style curry known as karē is one of the most popular dishes in the country. It started gaining popularity in Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912), when the British introduced it to the country. During its early years, karē with rice was an expensive, gourmet dish reserved only for the wealthy.
Compared to Indian curries, karē is less spicy, sweeter, darker, and usually thicker, which is thanks to the addition of flour or roux. There are three main version of karē in Japan - karē raisu (curry over rice), karē udon (curry over noodles), and karē -pan (a pastry filled with curry).
VARIATIONS OF Karē
MOST ICONIC Karē
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Japanese curry is an extremely popular dish throughout Japan. Since the curry is almost always served with rice, one can hear the term karē raisu mentioned very often. Curry was brought over to Japan by the British in the 19th century, when Meiji-era Japan welcomed foreigners and their goods.
As a result, Japanese curry is similar to the English curry, characterized by the heavy use of curry powder. The dish developed into curry rice, a rich stew of meat and vegetables (such as carrots, onions, and potatoes) which is ladled over short-grain, white rice.
MOST ICONIC Karē raisu
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Curry udon consists of thick Japanese noodles made from wheat flour, served in a bowl of Japanese curry. Since it is a warming dish, curry udon is extremely popular during winter, and because things can get quite messy while consuming it, some curry udon restaurants offer disposable dibs to customers.
The dish can vary in levels of spiciness - from mild to hot, depending on the curry. One of the most popular toppings for the dish is Shabu Shabu meat, thinly sliced so that it combines extremely well with the thick and chewy udon noodles.
MOST ICONIC Karē udon
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Hayashi rice or hashed beef rice is a Japanese dish consisting of a beef stew with a demi-glace base that is poured over steamed rice. It is a western-style Japanese dish that has been popular since the early 1900s. Although hayashi rice is a popular dish to cook at home, it is also commonly found on the menus of western-style restaurants.
It is still unknown where the name hayashi comes from, but some claim that a chef named Hayashi first prepared the dish as a meal for the employees of his restaurant. However, other people claim that it comes from the mispronunciation of the English phrase hashed beef.
Nikujaga is a Japanese dish consisting of meat (niku) and potatoes (jagaimo) as its main ingredients. Like most dishes in the Japanese cuisine, the meat is added for flavor, rather than substance. The most common type of meat used in nikujaga is thinly sliced beef simmered in soy sauce, sake, and mirin, although pork is more popular in the eastern parts of the country.
Nikujaga is Japanese comfort food that is often cooked at home, and it is one of the most popular dishes in the family of Japanese stewed dishes, called nimono. It is said that nikujaga was created by Togo Heihachiro, who studied naval science in Great Britain, where he discovered a variety of European food, including beef stews.
Yokosuka navy curry is a variety of Japanese curry prepared with a combination of beef, chicken, potatoes, onions, and carrots. The ingredients are cooked in a pan and thickened with a roux consisting of curry powder and flour. The dish is always accompanied by rice, while traditional sides include a salad and a glass of milk.
This curry type is so popular that upon arrival at Yokosuka navy base, visitors are greeted by a statue of a seagull holding a big plate of this delicious curry.
MOST ICONIC Yokosuka Navy Curry
A highly caloric staple of the sumo wrestlers' diet, chankonabe is a rich stew consisting of dashi, sake, chicken or fish, and vegetables such as daikon and bok choy, although the dish has no fixed recipe and usually contains readily available ingredients that are full of protein.
The dish is often served with rice, beer, and side dishes such as fried chicken and shrimp dumplings. Chankonabe dates back to the late 19th century, when cooks from Niigata started to make meals for sumo wrestlers. It is the main course of a sumo meal, and all the wrestlers have to eat it as a part of their weight-gain diet, whether they like the dish or not.
MOST ICONIC Chankonabe
View moreMotsunabe is a variety of nabemono, the versatile and hearty Japanese one-pot dishes. It consists of various pork, chicken, or beef offal cooked in the flavorful soy sauce or miso broth alongside cabbage, garlic chives, and occasionally other ingredients.
This nutritious dish is believed to have originated in Hakata, a district in the city of Fukuoka, from where it spread to other parts of the country to become one of the favorite meals enjoyed during the cold winter season.
MOST ICONIC Motsunabe
View moreImoni is a hearty Japanese meat stew with many regional varieties. It is most commonly consumed in the Tohoku region, where most prefectures have their favorite imoni style and a preferred choice of ingredients. In the Yamagata prefecture, imoni is usually prepared with beef and various vegetables, all doused in a slightly sweet broth made with soy sauce, sake, and sugar.
In the neighboring Miyagi prefecture, a crucial element is miso paste, which is added to the soy sauce broth. An entirely different style is employed in the city of Shonai, where the favorite choice of meat is pork, which is paired with miso-based soups.
Natto curry is a Japanese curry variety prepared with natto – fermented soybeans – as the main ingredients. Apart from the pungent and sticky natto, the dish often also contains taro, daikon radish, potatoes, onions, and carrots, but anything goes.
Once prepared, natto curry is traditionally served over white rice. Although natto is an acquired taste, it has numerous health benefits such as reducing the chance of strokes and helping the body to absorb calcium.
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