Japanese curry rice warms the belly on a cold day

There is absolutely nothing more warming than a bowl of Japanese curry and rice on a cold day. These past few weeks in sunny southern California we’ve seen a lot of rain and snow, yes snow! And on days where you just want to stay cozy inside, and want something easy to warm your belly, nothing hits the spot better than easy Japanese curry rice.

Easy Japanese curry and rice for a quick weeknight meal

This recipe for curry rice is the quick version using premade Japanese curry roux cubes.  The most common brand that we use in our house is Golden Curry when we want to use the premade curry roux. Often the premade Japanese curry you find at the Japanese grocer does not have instructions in English for how to make Japanese curry with curry blocks. Not to worry though! This recipe goes through how use curry cubes from the box. 

This easy curry rice recipe will quickly satisfy hungry bellies with healthy and nutritious veggies and protein. You can make this recipe vegan or add a little meat.  I prefer to make this recipe vegan but Chi Chi likes to add just a little bit of ground chicken to give it more flavor. 

If you have a bit of extra time and want to make curry rice from scratch check out my recipe for Homemade Japanese Curry Rice with Gluten Free Curry Roux.  

Japanese curry rice is a hearty veggie stew with a kick

You might be asking yourself, what is Japanese curry rice? It reminds me of  the beef, potato and carrot stew that I ate growing up. Japanese curry has the same kind of hearty gravy that American beef stew has, only with a curry kick to it. You can buy the premade Japanese curry, including Golden Curry from most grocery stores or online. 

Most premade curry roux comes in different spice levels. When making curry and rice for our kids we go with the mild curry, but if Chi Chi and I are eating it ourselves we prefer the medium spice level. If you really love spicy curry, you will want to go for the hot spice level as it will give a nice kick.

Serve Japanese curry over Japanese style short grain rice 

Japanese curry served over Japanese short grain rice. I highly recommend cooking your short grain rice in a rice cooker for the most authentic taste. Japanese people take their rice very seriously, Rice, as it is in many cultures, is the foundation of Japanese cuisine.  Indeed, the word for rice is “gohan” which also means “food” in Japanese. At our house you will often hear Chi Chi call out to the kids when lunch is ready: Gohan! Gohan! To which, you hear the pitter patter of their feet hitting the floor and running over to the table. 

Japanese curry rice is packed with nutrition 

Japanese curry rice is absolutely the best thing for a cold weekend afternoon. It warms the belly and is packed with nutritious and healthy ingredients. I pack my curry rice with tons of veggies as well. You can also experiment with different types of veggies to add to this curry. The Japanese curry veggies that I like to use include potato, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, corn, peas, and mushrooms.  The most common, and I would say essential, veggies to include are potato and carrot.  This recipe calls for just potato and carrot to make it simple and easy. 

Choose a vegan curry rice roux or make it from scratch  

If you are vegan and are buying a premade curry roux make sure to check the ingredients.  For example House Foods Vermont Curry has milk ingredients but S&B Golden Curry does not (it also has far fewer ingredients). My Homemade Japanese Curry Rice With Gluten Free Curry Roux is vegan as well if you have the extra 10 minutes to make the healthiest version of curry rice out there. 

Add depth to premade curry rice roux 

When we use a premade Japanese curry roux we like to add more depth to the flavors by adding a lot of caramelized onion, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. This recipe calls for 2 yellow onions, which sounds like a lot (and it is), but when the onion is slowly caramelized it adds a sweetness to the curry rice that is absolutely delicious.  In addition, adding some Japanese Worcestershire sauce (like Bull Dog) and tomato paste just brings in a bit more umami flavor.  

Tells us what you think about this recipe! Did you add caramelized onions, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce?