Authentic Japanese & Indian curry: Two recipes with a bit of Heat

Photo courtesy of Vanderlyst

So my 10 month MBA in Reims, France was all about absorbing as many new business concepts as I possible could in order to hone my skills and sculpt myself into a perfectly proficient manager/ entrepreneur. Yet, I decided why not take advantage of the cultural depth in my program (13 different nationalities in 30 people) and learn the gastronomy of the diverse nations I was surrounded by. So, that is what I did. http://theglobalgastronomykitchen.shutterfly.com/. Last Spring, once every 2 weeks I hosted a culinary class at my flat in the center of town with a view of the ancient Cathedral where the Kings of France were crowned from my skylights.

My goal was by the end, to have mastered dishes like Indian madras curry, Japanese curry, udon, + sushi, have taught them American bbq ribs, cornbread+ gruyere, blue cheese and white cheddar mac and cheese, Spanish gambas ajillo, Chinese Dim Sum, chaomian,Taiwanese san bei ji, French quiche, Coq au vin, Moelleux au chocolate and a handful of other tasty Interntational dishes from Romania, Kazak, Mexico, etc. We got through a good number and I'm just getting around to posting our work now!

The first class was the varying yet oh so delicious flavors of Curry. As i had an Indian classmate and a few Japanese classmates we decided to combine the day into a Curry extravaganza and learn them both at once. Japanese curry is subtle, warm and a bit sweet while Indian is hot, fiery and so spicy it could knock your socks off. I love them both and really enjoyed learning true "authentic recipes". Along with the curry we also made a kind of like a sushi salad which is a traditional dish called Chirashi-sushi. It was so much easier than having to fold up little rolls and was delicious as well.

We started with some bread with brie, apples and local honey

Recipe for Authentic Japanese Curry -Courtesy of two friends from Tokyo

For 3-4 people

Ingredients

Curry paste Half the box- Spicy levels vary from 3-5. We love spicy so we had the 5. You can find Japanese curry in an local asian shopping market. In Paris there is a big one off St Anne.

Meat (pork, chicken, beef)250g- we used chicken thighs and wings here with skin

Onion 1

Potatoes 2

Carrot 1

Water 700ml

How to cook

1. Slice the onion and cut the potatoes and carrots into dices.

2. Chop the meat.

3. Heat the big sauce pan, put some salad oil and saute the vegetable and meat.

4. Add the water into pan and cook them with low to middle heat for around 15 minutes.

5. Stop the heat, and put the curry paste.

6. Cook again in the low heat for about 10 minutes.

7. Serve curry with cooked rice.

CHIRASHI- SUSHI Recipe

A Chirashi-sushi (Chirashi-zushi) is a big sushi served in a big plate with fish and vegetables over the rice bed inside the bowl. It is popular sushi which we usually make at home.

Ingredients:

- 3 cup of Japanese Rice ( can buy at the local Reims Chinese market)

- Eggs (5-6)

- 1 tea spoon of starch (or gravy thickener)

- Seaweed (nori)

Sushi materials

- Shrimp

- Green peas

- Salmon

You can put whatever you want such as…

- Dried shiitake mushroom

- Avocado

- Cucumber

- Fish (eel, tuna)

Make it colorful!!

- Sushi vinegar

1/2 cup of vinegar (white or rice wine)

3 table spoon of sugar

2 tea spoon of salt

Instructions

1. Cook rice in a steam cooker if you have it*. Follow rice cooker guidelines. While cooking it mix the ingredients for sushi vinegar.
2. While cooked rice is very hot, mix in vinegar mixture slowly with a spoon. While mixing, cool the rice down using a fan.
3. After 1min, cover the mixed rice with a wet towel (cool it down so that it will absorb the vinegar)
4. Make egg crepe: This should be a slow process. Keep the heat at low (setting 1) and put starch in a bowl and pour 1 tea spoon of water, then mix them well
5. Scramble eggs 2 at a time in a small dish. Add the mixed starch mixture.
6. Pour a very small amount of the scrambled eggs into a frying pan just to coat the pan and cook slowly creating very thin sheets. Once it looks cooked flip it over and cook a few more minutes. The mixture of 2 eggs should make a few very thin omelets similar to crepes. Reserve.
7. Cut the pancakes into thin strips. Fold over each pancake and cut into very thin strips and reserve in a bowl.
8. Mix rice and sushi materials together and add egg strips and cut seaweed to the rice

If you serve them to guests, decorate sushi materials, seaweed and egg over the rice well first. Then, just before you serve them on each dish, mix all togetherJ

* If you do not have a steam cooker, you can cook rice with a pan.

1. Put 3 cup rice with 3.6 cup of water and wait 30 min so that rice absorb water
2. Use a cover and heat the pan at high
3. Keep it till boiling and never open the cover!!
4. When it start boiling, turn heat on medium and wait 5 min
5. After 5min, turn heat on low and wait 15min

Turn heat off and wait 10min for steam (Don’t open the lid!)

Indian Curry Recipe courtesy of Varun

Here is Varun from Delhi's Authentic Indian Curry Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or ghee (clarified butter)

• 1 medium onion - Chopped and then placed in food processor

• 4 cloves garlic - peeled, sliced

• 1.5 inch piece root ginger - peeled and thinly sliced

• 2 mild fleshy green chillies - de-seeded and chopped

• half teaspoon turmeric powder (Varun added 2 Teaspoons but it was smoking hot!)

• half teaspoon ground cumin seed

• half teaspoon ground coriander seed

• 5 tablespoons plain passata (this is the smooth, thick, sieved tomatoes or puree that you can make my hand with a handfull of tomatoes in the food processor) or you can use 1 tablespoon concentrated tomato purée (US = paste) mixed with 4 tablespoons water

Method

1. Heat the oil in a heavy pan then add the chopped onion-tomato-garlic mixture which you previously ground up into a liquid mixture in the food processor and stir for a few minutes with the heat on high.

2. Add the ginger, garlic and green chili. Stir for a minute and now turn the heat to low

3. Cook for 20 mins stirring every so often

4. Add the spices: turmeric, cumin and coriander and and simmer over gentil heat for few minutes longer.

5. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool. Blend entire mixture in batches in the blender for a super smooth consistency if desired.

6. Place puréed mixture back into the pan and cook for another 30 minutes over super low heat stirring occasionally.

Check out the Videos Below