Potato, carrot and tofu Japanese curry. Super basic but it’s got legs. Made about a week’s worth of dinners with this batch.
love a massaman curry, sweet potato/chickpea/onion/whatever meat if there’s some on hand
galangal is something magical I swear
Matar tofu for the week:
Made from scratch. Happy to type out the basic recipe if anyone is interested.
Required equipment: blender or food processor
In a large pot, dry fry the following whole spices on low heat:
- 1 tsp cumin seed
- 4 green cardamom pods
In a blender or food processor, blend the following ingredients until they form a smooth paste:
- 700g tomatoes
- 200g onion
- 1 large green chili, deseeded
- 4 tbsp fresh cilantro leaf, or 1 ice cube if blanched and frozen
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, or 1 tbsp each fresh ginger and garlic
- 2 whole cloves (can use powder or pre-crush if your blender isn’t powerful)
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp coriander seed
Once blended, add to pot and simmer until the raw onion smell dissipates. Add the following spices:
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp kashmiri chili powder (or about half as much if using the untyped chili powder from white people stores, which is stronger.)
Then prep ~500g of firm tofu and add to the mixture. Simmer again until the tofu is soft.
To finish, add 2 cups of frozen peas, and the following optional finishing ingredients:
- 2 tbsp soy cream (very optional, makes for a richer sauce)
- 1 tbsp kasuri methi leaf
Serve over rice, with naan, or with roasted potatoes.
- Caramelize onions, garlic, and ginger (either diced or blended into a paste)
- Add whole spices (Indian tempering spice blends, curry and bay leaves) and sugar
- Fry the pastes (a Thai curry paste, tomato paste, maybe miso)
- Add powdered spices (eg. garam masala)
- Stir fry some vegan protein (usually tofu or beans)
- Stir fry veggies (whatever is leftover for the week or frozen blends)
- Add soy sauce, Thai soy sauce (for the RNA), nutritional yeast, mushroom seasoning and MSG
- Add liquid (water, broth, vegan milk or yogurt) and optional starch to thicken
- Add optional flavored oil like toasted sesame oil
Serve with rice or flatbread after it looks and smells done
Add soy sauce, Thai soy sauce (for the RNA)
RNA like… DNA? I haven’t used Thai soy sauce before, it sounds like a lighter kecap manis, could that be a substitute?
Yes RNA! Well, at least the one I am talking about is Golden Mountain brand and the ingredients says
Flavor enhancer (Disodium 5’ - ribonucleotides)
It’s basically the remnants of broken down proteins which gives it the umami taste. I would say kecap manis might work as a sub, or maybe make a caramel simple syrup and mix it around 1:1 with a light soy sauce or tamari.
Is that chana masala? I’m new to curries but have been making chana masala a lot lately (it’s so good).
I usually have my Japanese curry with a vegan fried chicken patty.
I’ll try plain tofu next
It can be really simple. They sell blocks of the curry roux with instructions on the back. Or you can make it homemade (and better) of course. There are also retort packs of pre-made curry that you just microwave, but I don’t really like it.
