japan – style dispenser

Usually, when you think of curry, one conjures up images of India, not necessarily Japan. I had the same connotations until I joined Monocle Café and started working with the Japanese team who introduced me to this creamy and vibrant meal. Although it’s been a long time since I said my farewells to this wonderful Team, I still recreate this meal to my own taste and proportions…and let me tell you – my fine tuning has resulted in a dish more spectacular than I could hope for! So, my first action (or second, as I ate this as soon as it was ready!) was to share with you on my blog. Again, this is easy to prepare food (20-25mins), excellent for dinner or as a supper day after.

Ingredients:
2 medium chicken breast, sliced
a couple of medium carrots
up to 3 shallot onions
2 garlic cloves
a few bay leaves
1/2 of chili pepper
a handful of green peppercorns
3 large spoons of butter
about 300ml of greek yoghurt – depends how creamy you want to make this dish
1 tbsp of madras curry (powder/paste)
1 tbsp of curry roux (or garam masala)
2 tsp of konsome stock

In cast iron pot, melt the butter with bay leaves (I figured out that this is a great solution to extract most of the aroma from the leaves). After a couple of minutes add peppercorns, chili with vegetables and braise together until al dente. Do not overcook them as they’ll soften more with the chicken added a bit later. If you’re not sure about the order, follow the photos with description, and I believe your cooking will be more enjoyable!

When vegetables are al dente, add seasoned chicken and braise until meat is tender.

Prepare curry mix: 200ml boiling water, tbsp of curry powder, tbsp of curry roux and tsp of konsome stock. Mix all together.

Pour the curry mix into pan and stir for 5 mins. Don’t worry if at this stage if it tastes rather salty. The yoghurt you’ll add after the curry is mixed with chicken, will balance all the flavours perfectly!

ready to eat. Is it only me who thinks that this image speaks for itself? #mouthwatering

Processed with VSCOcam with f1 preset — brown rice complements the perfectly rich flavour of this delicious meal. #yum

Bon appétit aka Meshiagare!

Once upon a time there was a guy working with Japanese people.
He enjoyed their company as well as the taste of their unusual cuisine.
Shrimp katsu sandwich was one of his favourites; he could eat this delicacy day after day and could not have enough.
Might sound silly but trust me, he was a katsu-addict for quite some time.
To satisfy his cravings, he learned how to prepare this mouth watering sandwich. It’s pretty easy; it really is!
The secret, as usual, lies in the quality of the ingredients.

You need:
a few large shrimps (uncooked)
one egg beaten with a tablespoon of flour
pack of tempura breadcrumbs
brioche type bread cut into thick slices
a few leaves of crisp iceberg lettuce
tartar sauce, bulldog sauce, hot sauce
crisps (vinegar flavour ideally)

Form seasoned shrimps into the small cutlets, bathe in the beaten egg and then coat with tempura style bread crumbs.
Deep fry for a couple of minutes in sunflower oil, dry them from excess oil on a paper towel and place on toasted bread, prepared and seasoned with tartar and Bulldog sauce and iceberg lettuce. Cover with another slice of bread and lettuce, trim off the crusts and cut sandwich into two. Meshiagare!

The end.

Tag: japan

Japanese Curry!

Not your usual sandwich…