Sam In Japan

So yesterday, I made some amazing keema curry.

edit: yes, I know I’m a terrible person for making this with beef, but ground anything else can be tricky to find at the stores here, sorry! I now usually make it exclusively with lentils, if that matters ^^;

I try to always have some sort of “pot” food on hand at any given time, something that I can make in a large quantity that we can eat for a couple of meals. I rotate between things like chicken soup, chili, chicken a la king, Japanese curry, chicken and wild rice, those sort of things. This way, I can always have dinner on hand, and in the end, it’s a lot cheaper than making individual dinners – most of these cost about $2 a serving, and Chris and I can eat them for 2-4 meals, which is a great deal when you’re really don’t have much money to spend. “Shoestring” doesn’t even begin to describe how we’ve had to be lately, but at least we can eat well when I cook.

I really wanted to add something more into the rotation. While I absolutely love Indian curry, and we have a great restaurant down the street from us, it gets expensive. Add into that the fact that I can only eat a very narrow amount of spice due to bad allergies to chili, and that means half of the time I go to a restaurant I either get the blandest curry possible, or wind up in a Bendaryl-haze for the next day as my mouth swells up.

So, I’ve taken to trying to make my own curry!

This recipe was on the expensive side of my $2/person meals at about ￥400 (~$3.50), but well worth it I think. The cost will go down as I now have the curry roux on hand, so that’s nice when I make it again!

Here’s my take on keema curry. Feel free to print out my pretty page that I did in my bullet journal for your own, if you’d like. Sorry for some of the letters being shakey, I’m still going thru major body tremors as my prescription needs to be increased I think.

Keema Curry

Keema curry made with stuff you can find easily in Japan

• 1 medium onion (finely diced)
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 4 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp paprika ((I prefer Hungarian))
• 1 Tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cumin seeds ((optional))
• 1-2 Tbsp vegetarian curry paste ((to taste))
• 1 lb ground beef ((or pork, or chicken))
• 1 large tomato
• 1 cup/small package frozen peas (thawed)
• 2 tsp mirin
• salt and pepper
• canola oil (for cooking, make sure it doesn’t add flavor)

1. Saute onions and cumin seeds until onions are golden and soft.

2. Add garlic and ginger, saute another minute or two for aromatics.

3. Stir in paprika, garam masala, cumin, and curry paste. Cook another minute or two until curry paste is dissolved. Add a slight amount of water if needed.

4. Add meat and brown. Stir in mirin. Add tomato if the beef needs extra liquid, or after the meat is browned.

5. Simmer for 5 minutes, partially covered.

6. Stir in thawed peas and finish seasoning to taste. Simmer another 5-10 minutes.

The “vegetarian curry paste”, and it’s just basically curry roux. While you could make it without it, I found it added the right kick of spices to move it from good to great.

Also, I do use a whole lot more garam masala than most recipes, but I suspect that’s because Japanese spices are weaker than their authentic counterparts, so add the garam masala slowly and taste it as you go so you don’t overdo it.

My cost for this was a little high, because beef is expensive in Japan. I could have gone with frozen ground beef, but I didn’t really want to, since it’s the focus. The total cost here was about ￥1800 (~$16), but that was because I had to pick up the curry paste, and tomatoes are out of season. I had a lot of the other stuff on hand – minced ginger and garlic, and all of the seasonings. This made enough for the two of us to have at least two meals, maybe three, so about ￥400 (~$3.50) a person a meal.

I’m going to make this again, but trying lentils instead of beef, for a vegetarian option. I actually like mixing in beans and legumes with one pot meals like this, it stretches the meat since it’s so expensive here in Japan.

The “vegetarian curry paste” comes in a jar like this, and it’s just basically curry roux. While you could make it without it, I found it added the right kick of spices to move it from good to great.

Also, I do use a whole lot more garam masala than most recipes, but I suspect that’s because Japanese spices are weaker than their authentic counterparts, so add the garam masala slowly and taste it as you go so you don’t overdo it ;P

You can download a blank version of the bullet journal header for your own use here, if you’d like!