Tim Anderson recently wrote a deep-dive essay for the food magazine Vittles on “katsuification: how everything in Britain became katsu curry”, which examined how this craze came to dominate our menus.
Anderson is a go-to expert on Japanese food. Despite being born and raised in Wisconsin, he has studied the country’s diet for over two decades (including a spell living in Kitakyushu), written 10 cookbooks including Hokkaido: Recipes from the Seas, Fields and Farmlands of Northern Japan and the award-winning Tokyo Stories. Plus, he can cook and in 2011 triumphed in the BBC’s MasterChef with a meal that included pork ramen and a Tokyo-inspired burger.
His goofy new book Japanese Curry (and its Delicious Companions), published this month, focuses on the country’s “favourite comfort food” and is a celebration of the dish in all its forms, “old and new, classic and creative”. Chicken katsu curry spaghetti, anyone? He points out that his curries are very different from those originating in India: “Whereas they are naturally thick from puréed onions/tomatoes/chillies and a whole heap of spices, Japan’s curry is based on a fat-and-flour roux that thickens a lightly spiced stock-based sauce, like a gravy.”
Here he pairs curry with Japanese noodles. “I think the viscosity of Japanese curry broth makes it a natural partner for ramen, which is usually served with meaty broths that have a lot of body from fat and collagen – or, in this case, curry roux.”
Words by Jane Ferguson
Photography by Laura Edwards
Tim’s curry ramen
Serves 4
Ingredients
1.2 litres dashi or chicken, beef or vegetable stock
1 packet curry roux (90–100g), or 1 batch homemade curry roux (see below)
3-4 tbsp soy sauce, to taste
Hot chilli sauce, to taste
100g spinach
½ hispi (sweetheart) cabbage, cut into strips about 1cm wide
150g beansprouts
4 portions uncooked ramen noodles
4 spring onions, finely sliced
A few big pinches of toasted sesame seeds
About 60g red pickled ginger
A few spoonfuls of chilli oil or sesame oil, to taste
Method
Bring the dashi or stock to the boil in a large pot over a medium-high heat. Whisk in the curry roux, soy sauce and chilli sauce, bring up to the boil and simmer for a few minutes until it thickens up nicely.
Reduce to a low simmer, drop in the spinach, and place a lid on the pan.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and blanch the cabbage and beansprouts for 1-2 mins, then remove with a slotted spoon or a sieve and reserve.
Let the water come back up to a rolling boil, then cook the ramen until al dente, according to the packet instructions. Drain well.
Divide the ramen between four deep bowls and ladle over the soup and spinach. Use chopsticks to gently stir the noodles through the soup, then top with the cabbage and bean sprouts, spring onions, sesame seeds, pickled ginger and chilli or sesame oil.
Homemade curry roux - optional
Makes 120g, enough for 4-6 servings
Ingredients
30g coconut oil or butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ small onion, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
1cm piece ginger root, peeled and very finely chopped
2 tbsp curry powder
2 tsp garam masala
35g plain flour
5g cornflour
2 tsp tomato puree
1 stock cube (any, such as chicken or beef)
Method
Heat the coconut oil or butter and vegetable oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute for 6-8 mins until soft and brown, stirring frequently.
Add the curry powder and garam masala and stir it through the fat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook for about 3 mins to allow the spices to soften and infuse into the fat.
Add the flours and stir them into the fat as well; the flour will absorb all of the fat and make a very solid, dense paste, so work the mixture with a spatula to smash everything together until it is relatively uniform.
Mix in the tomato puree and the stock cube, but don’t worry if the stock cube doesn’t fully dissolve.
Remove from the heat, and tip the mixture into a food processor. Blend the roux for a minute or so to break down the bits of onion. The roux is now ready to use, or to be stored in the fridge or freezer to use later.
Japanese Curry by Tim Anderson is published by Quadrille (RRP £14.99; to order at a discount go to the Nerve Bookshop)