Monday, July 11, 2011

Japanese Curry Soba Noodles


I love eating Japanese curry with either rice or noodles. I used S&B Japanese curry mix to make a chicken curry, and boiled some dashi stock with soy and mirin for the noodle broth. The broth and curry are combined with the noodles to make a delicious curry soba meal! Even better with tempura, fortunately I had leftover eggplant fritters (click for recipe) from the previous day. So I baked them in the oven to crisp them up again and tossed them over the noodles. So yummy!

Japanese Curry Soba Noodles
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients

Dashi broth (combine and bring to a boil):
1 sachet (5g each) instant dashi stock granules (dashi-no-moto)
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
Salt to taste

Curry:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3.5oz packet S&B Japanese curry mix
2 onions, 1 chopped and 1 cut into wedges
600g chicken thigh fillets, cut into cubes
1/2 red apple, finely diced or grated (optional)
2 cups water (add more later if necessary)
1-2 carrots
1-2 potatoes
1 small capsicum (optional)
1 tbsp honey

Soba (buckwheat) noodles (or substitute with udon)
Chopped spring onions

Method

Heat up oil in a large pan and fry onions and chicken. After chicken is browned, add diced apple and fry for a minute before adding water and carrots. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add honey, potatoes and capsicum and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Break up the curry cubes and add to the pan. Stir until melted and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning. Add more water if desired to adjust the consistency of the curry.

Cook the soba noodles in rolling boiling water for 3 minutes or until cooked (follow packet instructions). Transfer into a bowl and ladle some dashi broth over it. Then ladle an equal amount of curry into the bowl. Garnish with spring onions and serve immediately. Even more delicious with tempura! Any leftover curry is always a welcome treat with steamed rice!