Japanese curry and carrot greens is a great recipe for beginner cooks! The curry sauce (roux) comes in the form of cubes which you can purchase from most grocery stores. Having it with a side of carrot greens salad in a lemon dressing helps to cut through the richness of the curry by adding an essential brightness to the meal! Plus, it’s a good way to utilize the whole carrot if you’re conscious about wasting food. If you don’t like the flavor of carrot greens, having it with a side of Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon is also a great way to add acidity to the meal.
Japanese Curry Ingredients
Japanese curry rice or “kare raisu” (カレーライス) is amongst the most popular dishes in Japan. It is a true comfort meal that has also become well known in North America. Traditionally, Japanese curry is made using four main ingredients: meat (beef, pork, chicken), potato, onion, and carrots. This simple combination of ingredients is a great place to start for your first time making this meal. However, this recipe provides room for experimentation because you can add almost any vegetable or protein to it!
Some other additions to the curry can include:
- Oyster mushrooms
- Sweet corn
- Gourds (like kabocha squash)
- Snow peas
- Mushrooms
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- Seafood
We had our curry with a side of jasmine rice, carrot greens salad, roasted seaweed, and sweet potato tempura. The sweet potato tempura were honestly a lot harder to perfect than we thought. Definitely watch a few tutorial videos first and maybe get someone to help with the process! Having it with some salted roasted seaweed also added a nice umami element to the dish. Salty seaweed is also a great pairing with rice! We bought carrots that come with their greens on top so we decided to utilize them in our dish. They taste like a stronger version of parsley with a sweet earthy flavor. They taste great with a lemon dressing and are extremely healthy as well. Carrot greens are rich in calcium, magnesium (comes from chlorophylls – pigment that gives plants their green colour), and potassium. Potassium is what makes the carrot greens taste slightly bitter.
Types of Curry Rouxs
This recipe for Japanese curry and carrot greens gets bonus points because it’s vegan and all the ingredients are very affordable! However, not all Japanese curry cubes are vegan like the one pictured above. We recommend using S&B Torokeru Curry and S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix for vegan options. The spice levels come in mild, medium, and hot. We tried the medium S&B Torokeru Curry and it wasn’t spicy at all. We find that most Japanese curries are sweeter and less spicy than curries from other cultures. If you enjoy spicy food, definitely try the hot version, otherwise, just stick with mild or medium! Some people are picky about their Japanese curry rouxs, but any brand you find at the grocery store should work for this recipe. They are all fairly similar in flavor and don’t differ that much.
We love Japanese curry cubes because we don’t have to season it at all! Just add water and bam! You have a big pot of curry that will last you for days! The flavorful blend of spices that come in each cube is already seasoned to perfection. We hope you enjoy this recipe.
Japanese Curry and Carrot Greens
Description
This is an excellent recipe for a beginner cook that wants to try something different but not too difficult. This recipe also provides room for experimentation because you can add almost any vegetables you like to this curry and it will taste good!
Ingredients
Curry
Salad
Instructions
Carrot Greens Salad
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Wash and chop carrot greens. Place in a large bowl.
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Add salad dressing ingredients directly to bowl and toss everything together.
Curry
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Dice onion and chop carrot and potato into thumb-width sized chunks.
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Add oil to large pot and bring to medium high heat.
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Add onion and carrots to pot. Cook 5 min.
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Add potato and water. Lower heat to simmer. Cook for 10 min. You can add a lid to the pot if you have one. Otherwise, be prepared to add water if the curry looks dry.
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Add curry packet and peas. Stir well. Cook for additional 10 min or until carrot and potato are soft.
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Remove pot from heat and serve with rice and salad.
