Easy Curry Beef Rice Bowls Recipe - The Woks of Life (2024)

FAQs

What kind of beef should I use for beef curry? ›

These include chuck, skirt, leg and flank. It's also sometimes labelled as Stewing Steak. Any of these cuts that need to be cooked slowly are fine for this recipe. Any curry paste you like to your taste will work here.

Recommended beef cuts for Japanese curry: Beef chuck or shoulder: These cuts are commonly used in Japanese curry due to their balance of tenderness and robust flavor. They break down beautifully during cooking, infusing the curry with their rich taste.

First off, cooking meat causes it to lose moisture and the tissues shrink, making it tougher. Braising (cooking meat in a liquid) allows the meat to reabsorb moisture and breaks down the tough tissues. This lead to a more tender piece of meat.

Step 1: Brown the meat

Searing the meat is a great way to build layers of flavor into your curry, but you'll need to add it in batches to get a hard sear and prevent steaming. Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the meat in batches, browning it on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Beef, pork, and chicken are the most popular meat choices. Katsu curry is a breaded deep-fried cutlet (tonkatsu; usually pork or chicken) with Japanese curry sauce. Curry originates in Indian cuisine and was brought to Japan from India by the British.

Waxy potatoes like Yukon gold, white potatoes and russet potatoes are best for curry. However any other kind of potatoes are okay if you cook them just until fork tender so they retain their shape. Avoid using new potatoes.

The curry base is made with onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, red chilli powder and garam masala. I prefer to go with potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, cauliflower, corn and bell peppers. Though you can use other veggies like baby corn, sweet potato and broccoli, the curry will have different flavors.

What are the three types of curry? ›

From phal curry based in the UK to madras curry originating from Madras, there are many curry dishes throughout the world with a history as flavorful as the meal itself. Though there are many dishes, curry itself can typically be broken down into three types: red, green, and yellow.

The sauce is thickened by a roux (a mixture of fat and flour and an addition of curry spices). You can find many variations of Japanese curries, ranging from regions to households, but the most basic one uses chicken, which is the recipe I'm sharing here.

For one, Japanese curry uses curry powder with less spices whereas Indian curry uses a variety of bases such as cumin, paprika, turmeric, and many more. Indian curry is more vibrant and bursting with flavor, while Japanese curry is sumptuous and “umami” but in a more understated manner.

Japanese curry is often served alongside with steamed rice and an accompaniment of bright crimson red relish called f*ckujinzuke (福神漬け). These pickled vegetables are sweet and tangy, which is perfect to set off the richness of curry.

These cuts—ribeye, New York strip loin, and filet mignon—can certainly be dubbed the best, and few will disagree. “Filet is the most tender cut, but has the least amount of flavor. Ribeye is the most flavorful, but the least tender of the three, and New York is in the middle.” Flannery explains.

Next time you're shopping for stew beef, look at your options and see what cuts of meat will work best for your recipe. For example, chuck is a lean and tender cut of beef that works well in stew. However, if you would prefer a thicker and more flavorful stew, short ribs or oxtail may be better choices for you.

The use of beef in Indian cooking is fairly limited. However, it is quite straight forward to substitute lamb dishes with beef. Ideally use topside or rump for slow cooked dishes and cook them for slightly longer then you would for lamb (approx. 1.5 hours).