Dry Curry was one of my favorite dishes when I was growing up. My Mother often made it when she had a busy day and didn’t have much time to prepare dinner. Dry curry is probably less known outside of Japan than the regular Japanese curry is, but it’s delicious and simple to make. I think every family has a slightly different way of preparing it, but it’s basically ground meat and minced vegetables spiced with curry powder. Our family uses the “S&B” curry powder and the “Bull-Dog” tonkatsu sauce as key ingredients for flavoring, and these can be found in most Japanese or Asian markets. They can also be purchased online. Serving with the fried egg on top is totally optional. We used to have dinner without the egg, and then with the egg for breakfast the following morning!
Dry Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced
- 2 onions minced
- 2 carrots minced
- 2 bell peppers minced
- 2 portobello mushroom caps minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
- 5 tablespoons “S&B” curry powder or to taste (oriental curry powder)
- 1 cube chicken bouillon
- 2 tablespoons “Bull-Dog” sauce (Japanese tonkatsu sauce)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- steamed white rice for serving
- 4 eggs for fried egg topping (optional)
- fresh parsley leaves chopped, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Start cooking the steamed white rice.
- Heat a dutch oven or a large sauté pan with vegetable oil on medium-low heat.
- Add the minced vegetables (garlic, ginger, onions, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms). When the vegetables become soft, add the ground meat and stir.
- When the meat turns light brown, add salt, pepper and curry powder. Don’t make it too salty at this point, since we will be adding the bouillon and sauce next.
- Break up the bouillon cube by hand and add to the pot. Add bulldog sauce and soy sauce. Don’t make it too salty at this point yet either, since boiling off the liquid will make it slightly saltier. Once it comes to a boil, turn heat to low.
- Simmer uncovered until the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 30 minutes. Stir periodically.
- Salt to taste.
For the fried egg
- Crack the eggs into small individual bowls for each egg.
- Heat 1/4 inch of vegetable cooking oil in a frying pan or wok with a lid over medium-high heat. Make sure you have the lid ready since the hot oil will splatter a lot when you add the egg.
- When the oil is hot, gently drop a cracked egg into the pan and place the lid over the pan immediately. Lift the lid slightly and splash some hot oil on top of the egg with a wooden spatula to get the egg whites to crisp a little. Put the lid back on and cook the egg for 30 seconds or so. Take the egg out using a slotted spatula just before the egg reaches desired hardness since the egg will continue to cook a little bit after you take it out of the pan.
To serve
- Serve the dry curry hot over steamed white rice. Place the fried egg on top of the dry curry, and garnish with chopped parsley.