I received a lot of requests from JOC readers to make a Vegetarian Japanese Curry recipe. Sure, you can throw in chopped veggies in the mix and call it Vegetarian Curry. Instead, I spent a little more time developing one killer version that I am truly excited to share. It’s one pot of curry that makes the most use of vegetables, and perhaps steals the limelight of the regular curry!
What’s So Good About This Vegetarian Japanese Curry?
Big bold layers of flavors, even without meat!Nutritious and healthy, with lots of veggies!Fulfilling, without too heavy on the stomach.Striving to eat more plant-based food? This recipe is going to be your staple.
Bring Regular Curry to The Next Level
The most challenging part of making vegetarian curry in a big pot is that each vegetable has different cooking times. You can somewhat control by cutting the vegetables into desirable sizes and toss them in, so they are cooked into homogenous tenderness. For this recipe, however, I decided to take on a different approach. First, I categorized the ingredients based on the texture and density. For this instance, I grouped onions and root vegetables together as they have similar cooking time. Then, I applied a mix of sauteeing and steaming methods to cook them in my Dutch oven pot. Once they are almost 80% tender, I added broth and continued cooking for a short time. Next, I used a separate frying pan and sauteed the rest of the vegetables in stages. With this approach, each ingredient maintains its shape beautifully. No crumbling potato pieces or overly soft peppers. Because I cooked the vegetables and mushrooms in a separate pan, they get a nice char like how you’d sear meat and ultimately brings additional flavors to the curry.
5 Tips on Making This Curry
Make homemade Japanese curry roux – You can buy an S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (no meat contained) and use the half box for this recipe, but I highly recommend making the roux from scratch at home!Cook the ingredients in stages – Divide your ingredients into dense vegetables, tender vegetables, and mushrooms, and cook them in stages.Use king oyster mushrooms – The unique meaty texture of this mushroom lends a great chewy bite and incredible umami. It’s definitely the most delicious type of mushroom to use for Japanese curry. If you can’t find king oyster mushrooms, you can use large portobello mushrooms.Don’t overcook each ingredient – Vegetables get mushy and disintegrate easily as you continue to cook. Therefore, it’s important to retain the shape and texture by not overcooking them.Top the curry with colorful vegetables – To bring out the color of the curry, I recommend keeping some colorful vegetables you sautee for plating later. The vibrant green, orange and yellow contrasts beautifully on a brown sauce.
Ingredients Substitutes and Suggestions:
This recipe is pretty flexible when it comes to swapping ingredients.
Vegetables: cauliflower, corn, green beans, okra, zucchini, and etc.Mushrooms: Crimini mushroom, portobello mushroom, shiitake mushroom, and etc.A meat-eater in the family? You can put Tonkatsu (baked version) or Chicken Katsu (baked version) on top!
How to Make it Vegan
I make the curry roux with butter and saute the mushrooms with butter for the flavors. If you want to make this dish vegan-friendly, simply swap the butter with vegan butter or other types of oil. Enjoy the Japanese vegetarian curry over rice. It’s going to be the most exciting, satisfying meal you’d love for a very long time.
Other Japanese Curry Recipes You May Want to Try
Sapporo Soup CurryCold Curry UdonPressure Cooker Japanese CurryPressure Cooker Japanese Seafood CurryJapanese Chicken CurryJapanese Beef CurryCurry Udon
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