Japanese Chicken Curry

Japanese chicken curry is not like curry from anywhere else. It takes Indian flavours and makes it uniquely Japanese. Familiar. But not the same. Delicious.

It has Indian ingredients. But somehow they come together in a different way. I don’t know why but I’ve loved it since the first time I tried it.

Japanese curry rice

I love evolution of dishes across cultures. It happens over and over. And Japanese chicken curry is no different.

There are a few different versions of Japanese curry. Curry bread is this crazy deep fried bread stuffed with Japanese curry.

It’s on the go food. Train station food. Convenience store food. At least in Japan.

Curry udon is a big bowl of delicious. Fresh udon noodles swimming in curry. Truly Japanese. Truly awesome.

And then there’s Japanese curry rice. Which is just what it sounds like. Rice and curry. Sounds Indian. But it’s not.

It’s my favourite of the bunch. Although curry udon is a really close second. Who am I kidding? They are all really good.

Japanese chicken curry – big in Japan

You don’t see it much at Japanese restaurants outside of Japan. At least where I live. Sushi. Teppanyaki. Ramen. Even shabu shabu when I’m lucky. Those are big.

But Japanese curry is still relatively unknown. Which is a shame. It’s really good. You should try it.

There’s a story behind Japanese curry. It came to Japan while the British occupied India. The romantic version has members of the British navy introducing it to their fellow Japanese sailors.

I imagine the British curry was pretty close to what they ate in India at the time. And some bright Japanese navy cook took it and ran with it.

Made it thicker. Well suited for a chopstick culture. Smoother flavours. A hint of fruit. A bit sweet. Perfect with sticky rice. Perfect for the Japanese palate.

From the navy it spread to the army. Then to school cafeterias. And from there to the heart of Japanese culture. I love stories like that.

You can make Japanese chicken curry with curry cubes

That’s a thing. Curry cubes. And it’s big business. It takes the roux in this Japanese chicken curry recipe and serves it up pre-fab. Super easy. Fast food really.

And those cubes are pretty good. I like them. Use them in curry ramen . I know Japanese that swear by them.

Judging by the variety and quantity on the shelves of Asian markets it’s popular. Lots of people making Japanese curry rice using cubes. Be sure of that.

But they all taste almost exactly the same. So there’s no room to tweak them to suit your tastes. Or to mix it up a bit.

Making Japanese chicken curry from scratch isn’t a lot harder. Not really that much work.

But you should make it from scratch

The cubes take out one step. And one pot. So they are easier. But that step isn’t all that hard. You make a curry veloute. Which is just a fancy way of saying gravy.

You make a roux and add some liquid. Stir a bit. Then mix it into the curry. That’s the effort you save with the cubes. And you get bragging rights. Curry rice from scratch.

There’s a bit of technique here. I like to bloom the spices. Same as when I cook Indian.

And I want the raw taste cooked out of the flour. So I make a veloute. Like a béchamel but with the broth from the curry instead of milk.

And doing it from scratch will let you tweak the roux to your taste. Want it hotter. Add some chili powder. Cooking for kids? Maybe roll back on the curry powder.

Want it thicker? More flour and butter. Runnier. Back off the flour. Up to you. Dial it in for your tastes. Just like that cook on the first battleship to serve Japanese curry rice.

Chopping vegetables for Japanese chicken curry – rangiri style

You don’t have to do this. I’m sure you chop carrots with the best of them. But it’s a nice touch. And it’s fun. Something to learn.

It’s called rangiri. It’s a technique to cut cylindrical vegetables like carrots evenly. And it’s really easy. So why not?

Cut the ends off a carrot. Put it down on the board. Cut a piece off the large end with your knife at a 45 degree angle to the carrot. You should be looking at a carrot the cut end coming to a point.

Rotate the carrot 1/4 turn. With your knife still at the same 45 degree angle cut off the next piece. Keep repeating turn and cut. Turn and cut. Turn and cut.

Now look at the pieces on your cutting board. They should look like the picture. If they don’t I’ve failed in my description. Sorry. Leave me a note telling me I suck and search for rangiri on youtube.

Tonkatsu sauce for the “secret ingredient”

There are two “secret” ingredients for Japanese curry. Honey and apple. I’ll go one further. Japanese Worcestershire sauce is the third.

Japanese Worcestershire is hard to find. But tonkatsu sauce is not. It’s a variant of Japanese Worcestershire. So it adds that flavour. And it’s sweet. And it has apple in it.

See where I’m going? Three for one. It’s my “secret” ingredient.

Try Japanese chicken curry

I want you to try this. If you have never had Japanese curry you need to taste it for yourself.

I don’t care if you use the cubes. I don’t care if you ignore this recipe altogether. This is a mission to get people to try something new. Something delicious.

Make Japanese chicken curry. Somehow. Using somebody’s recipe. Just make it. I’m betting if you like Indian you are going to like Japanese curry rice too. I do. Familiar. But different. And tasty.

Japanese chicken curry

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken thighs boneless, skinless and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 large onion about 8 oz sliced
• 8 oz carrots cut rangiri style (see above) if you want
• 12 oz waxy potatoes cut into bite size chunks
• 6 tbsp butter total
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger grated
• 4 cups chicken stock low or no sodium or really plain homemade (just chicken and water – no fancy aromatics)
• 3 tbsp Japanese curry powder I use S&B brand
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 tsp salt plus more to taste
• 1-2 tbsp tonkotsu sauce I like bull dog brand if you can find it. There are other brands that are easier to find if you can’t. They will work too.

Instructions

• Prep your vegetables. Slice the onion into 1/8 inch slices. Cut the onion in half from the stem to the root. Peel. Cut the stem end off. Now cut slices moving towards the stem end. You are cutting onion half moons.
• Cut up the carrots, potatoes and chicken. You want bite size pieces.
• Heat a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients over medium low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter. Let melt and then add the onions and the salt. Cook the onions for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. You are going for soft and translucent. You don’t want to let the onions brown.
• Add the carrots, garlic and ginger (or 1 tbsp of garlic ginger paste if you stock it) and cook another 2 minutes.
• Add the stock. Stir and bring to a simmer. Let cook 10 minutes. Set a timer. Makes things easy.
• Add the potatoes. Cook another 15 minutes. Use your timer. Check the potatoes. They should be close to done. Depends on how big the pieces were. If they aren’t starting to soften cook them until they do.
• Add the chicken. Cook 10 minutes.
• While the chicken cooks make the curry roux.
• Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Add the curry powder and garam masala and cook for about 30-45 seconds. Add the flour and stir to combine. You want all the flour coated with fat. If it’s really dry add a bit of vegetable oil.
• Cook the flour/spice mixture over medium low heat for about 2 minutes. This is your roux.
• Now add a couple tablespoons of broth from the simmering curry. Stir to combine. It will make an ungodly looking mess. Goop. Don’t worry. Add another couple tablespoons of broth and stir. Repeat that a couple more times.
• Now add around 1/2 cup of broth and stir to combine. Add another 1/2 cup or so and stir. You sould be getting to the point where you have a really thick but smooth paste. Curry paste. It’s better than it sounds. It’s actually a variant of veloute which is a variant on bechamel. There’s some cooking theory in this recipe…
• 10-12 minutes have gone by. Check the chicken. It should be done or at least close. Depends on how lively your simmer is though. Use an instant read thermometer. Safety first. You want it read around 155-160F at this point. The thighs are cooked at 170F but you can go a little higher. That’s the nice thing about dark meat. It is forgiving.
• Add the curry veloute (fancy way to say the curry paste) to the curry. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. The chicken should be done. Check it. If it’s not cook it for another few minutes.
• Taste. At this point the flavour profile will be similar to the cubes. Adjust salt. Now add one tablespoon of tonkotsu sauce. Taste again. This will add a hint of sweetness as well as that secret Japanese curry flavour. If you like it stop now. If you want more fruit and sugar add another tablespoon. I like it between one and two tablespoons. If you want big fruit taste add another tablespoon. I’ve never gone beyond that so I don’t know if more is better. Three is too sweet for my taste.

Nutrition

Japanese chicken curry

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken thighs boneless, skinless and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 large onion about 8 oz sliced
• 8 oz carrots cut rangiri style (see above) if you want
• 12 oz waxy potatoes cut into bite size chunks
• 6 tbsp butter total
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger grated
• 4 cups chicken stock low or no sodium or really plain homemade (just chicken and water - no fancy aromatics)
• 3 tbsp Japanese curry powder I use S&B brand
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 tsp salt plus more to taste
• 1-2 tbsp tonkotsu sauce I like bull dog brand if you can find it. There are other brands that are easier to find if you can’t. They will work too.

Instructions

• Prep your vegetables. Slice the onion into 1/8 inch slices. Cut the onion in half from the stem to the root. Peel. Cut the stem end off. Now cut slices moving towards the stem end. You are cutting onion half moons.
• Cut up the carrots, potatoes and chicken. You want bite size pieces.
• Heat a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients over medium low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter. Let melt and then add the onions and the salt. Cook the onions for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. You are going for soft and translucent. You don’t want to let the onions brown.
• Add the carrots, garlic and ginger (or 1 tbsp of garlic ginger paste if you stock it) and cook another 2 minutes.
• Add the stock. Stir and bring to a simmer. Let cook 10 minutes. Set a timer. Makes things easy.
• Add the potatoes. Cook another 15 minutes. Use your timer. Check the potatoes. They should be close to done. Depends on how big the pieces were. If they aren’t starting to soften cook them until they do.
• Add the chicken. Cook 10 minutes.
• While the chicken cooks make the curry roux.
• Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Add the curry powder and garam masala and cook for about 30-45 seconds. Add the flour and stir to combine. You want all the flour coated with fat. If it’s really dry add a bit of vegetable oil.
• Cook the flour/spice mixture over medium low heat for about 2 minutes. This is your roux.
• Now add a couple tablespoons of broth from the simmering curry. Stir to combine. It will make an ungodly looking mess. Goop. Don’t worry. Add another couple tablespoons of broth and stir. Repeat that a couple more times.
• Now add around 1/2 cup of broth and stir to combine. Add another 1/2 cup or so and stir. You sould be getting to the point where you have a really thick but smooth paste. Curry paste. It’s better than it sounds. It’s actually a variant of veloute which is a variant on bechamel. There’s some cooking theory in this recipe…
• 10-12 minutes have gone by. Check the chicken. It should be done or at least close. Depends on how lively your simmer is though. Use an instant read thermometer. Safety first. You want it read around 155-160F at this point. The thighs are cooked at 170F but you can go a little higher. That’s the nice thing about dark meat. It is forgiving.
• Add the curry veloute (fancy way to say the curry paste) to the curry. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. The chicken should be done. Check it. If it’s not cook it for another few minutes.
• Taste. At this point the flavour profile will be similar to the cubes. Adjust salt. Now add one tablespoon of tonkotsu sauce. Taste again. This will add a hint of sweetness as well as that secret Japanese curry flavour. If you like it stop now. If you want more fruit and sugar add another tablespoon. I like it between one and two tablespoons. If you want big fruit taste add another tablespoon. I’ve never gone beyond that so I don’t know if more is better. Three is too sweet for my taste.

Nutrition

Murgir jhol is classic Bengali chicken curry. This is pure Indian home cooking. Simple. Straight forward. And delicious. Family food.

It’s not fancy. It’s not flashy. And it’s not like the curry you get in restaurants. It’s just good. I think so anyway. Hopefully you agree.

This is eastern Indian cooking. The flavours I grew up eating. My comfort food. When I was a kid this was just called chicken curry. I didn’t even know if was called murgir jhol.

India is a country with an incredibly diverse culinary culture with strong regional differences.

There is so much more to it than the twenty or so dishes every Indian restaurant seems to serve. So much more.

Murgir jhol is curry with Bengali ingredients

There’s nothing earth shattering in this recipe. Onions. Garlic. Ginger. Tomatoes. These are everyday Indian ingredients.

Potatoes are fairly common in Indian cooking as well. Especially in Bengali cooking. They use them a lot. So this is really a chicken and potato curry.

Mustard is big. If you want to go the extra mile use some mustard oil to cook. It has a distinctive taste. Not super strong. Background really. But really popular in Bengali cooking.

Panch phoran and cinnamon are the things that really make this Bengali chicken curry. These are the hallmark flavours. The signature ingredients.

The only thing I can think of that would make this more Bengali would be if you added more cumin seed and mustard seed.

And you turned this into a fish curry. That would put it completely over the top. But that’s not Bengali chicken curry. And the title of this post does say murgir jhol so…

Panch phoran is not a crazy exotic ingredient

Panch phoran is Bengali five spice. It’s a mix of cumin seed, mustard seed, nigella, fenugreek seed and fennel seed. Told you cumin seed and mustard seed were big in Bengal.

These are small spices. So you can eat them in the curry. It’s not like biting into a whole cardamom. Don’t fear the small spices. They blend in. It works.

Panch phoran is the flavour that defines murgir jhol. But it’s used in all sorts of dishes. Try fried or roasted potatoes with it sometime. Some garlic. A little salt. That is some crazy delicious.

You can get Panch phoran at just about any Indian grocer. Or you can make it yourself. It’s just an even mix of the five spices. Left whole. Mix it up and go. Easy.

Take the time to brown your onions

Funny thing about Indian cooking. You don’t usually brown the chicken. One of those things that used to perplex me until I thought a bit about it.

The Maillard reaction is the king of cooking. It’s the process of browning. And that is browning is what causes a reaction between proteins and sugars.

A reaction that releases a zillion flavour compounds. Literally a zillion. I counted. Took a long time. But now I know.

So how can not browning the chicken result in something that doesn’t taste like nothing?

It’s because the Maillard reaction applies to onions too. And if there is one golden rule to Indian cooking it’s brown your onions.

That’s where the flavour compounds are coming from. That’s why it works even though you skip what should be an absolutely critical step.

You can brown your chicken. That adds more flavour. But it messes up the texture of the chicken in the curry. And texture matters too. So I don’t do it.

Boneless vs. bone-in chicken

I used boneless chicken thighs for this recipe. That upscales it a bit. Makes it closer to what you might expect in a restaurant.

That’s not authentic. That’s me trying to get you to try this recipe. A bit fancier. More approachable. Not what you’d get in somebody’s home.

But make no mistake. Bone-in chicken is genuine. Pick up the chicken and slurp the bones genuine. Lick your fingers genuine. Like I said. Family food.

But if you’re doing this for friends who are in the knife and fork crowd maybe boneless is the way to go.

Either way it needs to be thighs. White meat is too delicate for this kind of cooking.

Murgir jhol is a little bit different

This is not a restaurant style curry. It doesn’t have that crazy thick sauce. It’s not a few pieces of stuff in a whole lot of gravy. This curry is a little bit runny.

Not soupy by any stretch of the imagination. But not that stick to your naan bread restaurant stuff either. It is perfect with rice. Just runny enough to flavour every grain.

If this stops you from making murgir jhol that’s really too bad. It’s something you should experience at least once. A little insight into family cooking. The way people cook at home. The real deal.

This isn’t mainstream restaurant fare. You may not get it. But if you’ve cooked a few recipes from this blog already I’m betting you will.

murgir jhol – bengali chicken curry

Ingredients

Spices

• 1 1/2 tsp panch phoran – bengali 5 spice available at any Indian grocer
• 1/4 tsp cardamom seed green
• 1 3 inch cinnamon bark – also called cassia
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt

murgir jhol

• 2 lbs chicken thighs – boneless skinless
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil or 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 2 tbsp mustard oil
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
• 1 large tomato diced
• 12 oz potatoes cut into 1 inch dice
• 1 cup chicken stock or water (but I much prefer chicken stock)

Instructions

Do your prep

• Combine the panch phoran, cardamom seed and cinnamon stick in a small bowl.
• Combine the cumin, coriander, kashmiri chili powder, turmeric, salt and pepper in another small bowl.
• Slice the onions thinly. Slice the onion in half (from root to stem) then slice across the onion so you get half moons.
• Cut your potatoes into 1 inch pieces.
• Cut your chicken into largish bite size chunks.
• Chop your tomato.

Make the murgir jhol

• Pick a pot big enough to hold all the ingredients.
• Heat the oil over medium low heat. Add the onions. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they break down and turn light brown. This takes 15-20 minutes. You can’t skip this step.
• Push the onions over to one side. Give a squeeze against the side of the pot to get some of the oil out.
• Add the whole spices. Cook for about 30-45 seconds. Now add the ground spices and stir to mix with the oil. You don’t want the mix to be dry at this point. You want the spices wet. If it looks dry add another tablespoon of oil. Cook for about a minute. Be careful. Don’t let your spices burn.
• Add the garlic ginger paste. Stir everything together and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 minutes or so.
• Add the tomatoes. Stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down. This should take 5-7 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock and the potatoes. Cover and simmer (adjust your heat accordingly) for 15-20 minutes. Your potatoes should be starting to soften.
• Add the chicken. SImmer another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked. Taste and adjust for salt. It will likely need a bit more.
• Garnish with cilantro if desired. Serve with basmati rice.

Nutrition