Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Brother Momonjii's Japanese Curry, Variation #2 (Summer, again)

This is very similar to the previous one, but with a few differences.

1. Use S&B Tasty Curry sauce, medium-hot. (Japanese name is Torokeru curry, which means "melt-in-your-mouth." It's a little milder than Java.)

2. Cut up a chicken breast, a couple of yellow summer squash, and some carrots.

3. In your kettle, sautee the chicken in butter with some ground sage and thyme.

4. Add the carrots and sear.

5. Add water.

6. When the carrots are starting to get soft, add the squash and some frozen corn kernels.

7. When everything's soft, add the curry.

8. When the curry is dissolved, while you're simmering it, add lemon pepper to taste. Make sure it's salt-free lemon pepper; additional salt at this point would not be a good idea. (BTW, Spice Hunter brand Lemon Pepper is pretty awesome - like, zowie-strength lemon flavor.)

9. Add unsalted sunflower seeds, and simmer until they begin to get soft.

This one, too, is good with parmesan cheese, or with hard-boiled egg (either shredded or just cut in half).

This is, I'll admit, pretty close to Variation #1, but different enough to be worth repeating, for us at least.

PS: If you like J. curry as much as we do, it's worth making a whole box at once, even if you're only cooking for two, because, as every Japanese cook knows, it's better the second day. Something about the way the flavors seep into the ingredients overnight. In fact I think one reason so many households there have Curry Night once every other week or so is because it means you don't have to cook the next night. Bonus.