Easy Curry Beef Rice Bowls Recipe - The Woks of Life (2024)

FAQs

What kind of beef should I use for beef curry? ›

These include chuck, skirt, leg and flank. It's also sometimes labelled as Stewing Steak. Any of these cuts that need to be cooked slowly are fine for this recipe. Any curry paste you like to your taste will work here.

Recommended beef cuts for Japanese curry: Beef chuck or shoulder: These cuts are commonly used in Japanese curry due to their balance of tenderness and robust flavor. They break down beautifully during cooking, infusing the curry with their rich taste.

How to make Perfect Chicken Curry. Toast the coconut in a pan over a low heat, stirring until it turns golden brown. Remove the coconut to a plate and into the same pan add the cinnamon sticks, dried chillies, peppercorns, star anise and fennel seeds.

First off, cooking meat causes it to lose moisture and the tissues shrink, making it tougher. Braising (cooking meat in a liquid) allows the meat to reabsorb moisture and breaks down the tough tissues. This lead to a more tender piece of meat.

Waxy potatoes like Yukon gold, white potatoes and russet potatoes are best for curry. However any other kind of potatoes are okay if you cook them just until fork tender so they retain their shape. Avoid using new potatoes.

Beef, pork, and chicken are the most popular meat choices. Katsu curry is a breaded deep-fried cutlet (tonkatsu; usually pork or chicken) with Japanese curry sauce. Curry originates in Indian cuisine and was brought to Japan from India by the British.

Beef shanks or short ribs

Beef shanks are great for slow-braising as it has connective tissue and fat that breaks down during the lengthy cooking process - resulting in meltingly tender meat when served with your fragrant and delicious sauce.

The sauce is thickened by a roux (a mixture of fat and flour and an addition of curry spices). You can find many variations of Japanese curries, ranging from regions to households, but the most basic one uses chicken, which is the recipe I'm sharing here.

What makes Japanese curry different from Indian curry? ›

For one, Japanese curry uses curry powder with less spices whereas Indian curry uses a variety of bases such as cumin, paprika, turmeric, and many more. Indian curry is more vibrant and bursting with flavor, while Japanese curry is sumptuous and “umami” but in a more understated manner.

While it might surprise you, cinnamon is also used in savory dishes, including when you're baking chicken. A little pinch of it goes a long way, and it pairs great with curry powder.

The spices used for this curry are turmeric and coriander seeds with the addition of red chilli, garlic, ginger and coconut milk to give those familiar aromatic curry notes. The use of herbs such as dill, parsley, coriander and fenugreek bring a about a flavour profile more common to Middle-Eastern cuisine.

Beef is sought after and popular in Japanese curry along with onions, carrots and potatoes. That's classic comfort food for most of them. However, pretty much any protein is great in a curry. Try it with chicken or pork.

These cuts—ribeye, New York strip loin, and filet mignon—can certainly be dubbed the best, and few will disagree. “Filet is the most tender cut, but has the least amount of flavor. Ribeye is the most flavorful, but the least tender of the three, and New York is in the middle.” Flannery explains.

Next time you're shopping for stew beef, look at your options and see what cuts of meat will work best for your recipe. For example, chuck is a lean and tender cut of beef that works well in stew. However, if you would prefer a thicker and more flavorful stew, short ribs or oxtail may be better choices for you.