Japanese Curry Brick

I stumbled up S&B's "Golden Curry" blocks several years ago and didn't bother to think about it's makeup. S&B sells it with "heat" ranging from Medium to Extra Hot. It's a great product and can, just as I'm sure these curry blocks will, be used with chicken, pork, beef, lamb or shrimp. But I usually clear out the vegetable drawer when I'm making what we call "Curry Slop" -- adding in chopped celery, peppers, or bok choy; as well as diced water chestnuts or bamboo shoots -- to serve over rice.

Could you give the weight for the flour? The butter is relatively straightforward, with weights or without, but flour weights per cup have such a wide range, depending on the cookbook/recipe ....do you use 125gm cups? Something else?

For it to be called Japanese Curry it needs a sweetener which is typically provided by fruit, more often than not apples and or pears. Take a look at Sam Swifton's Katsu Curry recipe.

Happy to see a recipe. The pre made curry blocks have wheat in them do Gluten free people can’t use them. If we make them GF flour can be used.

I can't wait to try this, as I eat a lot of curry! HOWEVER- be extremely careful about sourcing your Kombu. Read every word on the package and research the brand name you choose on line. Many brands are deceptively packaged. Some, not all, Japanese Kombu can come from irradiated waters near Fukushima. Some Chinese brands are harvested from the Yellow Sea, which I understand to be the single most polluted body of seawater on the planet.

I’d be cautious about cooking that roux for 20 minutes. Despite the large quantity , I doubt it will take that long. When it smells like roasted peanuts, it’s done.

I’m at a loss as to what exactly a “1-inch strip” of kombu would be, since there is no uniform size of kombu. Is it 1” by 1”, 1” by 6”, or something totally different?

After using the spice grinder, I sifted it with a fine sieve to make sure I didn’t get any notable pieces of cinnamon stick. I’m VERY glad I took the extra minute to do this :)

My Japanese son in law browns hamburger, diced potatoes, carrots and onions, then mixes in a couple of curry brick and water. The mix simmers for about 15 minutes then is served over rice. Even better the next day. It’s easy like hamburger helper but one million times better.

Carrots will sweeten the curry. My Sicilian friend adds a carrot stick to every jar when his family gathers to can tomato sauce. He said it sweetens and mellows the sauce. As far as the curry, meat is not an important ingredient. A small amount will add flavor. Carrots and curry are a magical combination.

Made a batch of these this weekend with a friend. I think instead of the mini loaf pans, I will use an ice cube tray next time. As for the bricks themselves, we made a batch of curry to go with our pork katsu. As a base, it has a lot of deep flavor in it, but as the author says, it needs the addition of miso, soy, and mirin to round it out. We used two cubes and added about ½ cup light colored miso, 2 tsp smoked shoyu, 1 Tbs mirin.

Why wouldn’t these last more than 3 months in freezer? I understand the fresher the better, but based on ingredients and if stored airtight, I’d think they’d be safe for use a long time...

As with any traditional roux I would do a 1:1 weight ratio.

I am wondering if anyone has used this in vegan dishes -- if so, what success have they had with a vegan roux?

S&B uses palm oil as the primary roux ingredient to harden into bricks, resulting in 4 gms of saturated fat/serving. Tastes great, but I stopped buying them years ago with palm oil having some potential health risks and certainly production impacts on the environment. Can't wait to try this recipe!