I used to hate the flavor of Japanese curry. While living in Japan in middle school and high school, the hatred only grew exponentially day by day. I couldn’t put a word or reason behind it, although to this day I think it was because I wasn’t thrilled with having to move to Japan in middle school. This is, of course, the exact opposite of my mentality now. I can’t imagine my life without Japan in it and I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to live in Tokyo. It is instrumental to my personality, thoughts and decisions. Back to the curry: Everything changed on one fateful weekend in October.
This is how my memory of this goes. My brother was part of a soccer camp/league at the elementary school near my house. The school was traditional to a ‘T’, school on Saturdays, kids doing the clean-up and participation in cooking school lunches. That is of course until my brother showed up, blonde, white kid and father who somehow spoke fluent Japanese. This school had a weekend away camp of sorts and somehow it was decided that my brother and I should go. The bus ride down was memorable. We all played a game and at the end, if you lost, you had to complete a task called ‘batsu gamu’ (basically a dare, as in truth or dare, except no truth option). The ‘batsu’ was decided prior to the end of the game, I think. This particular end task was to drink a concoction of whatever everyone decided to put in a bottle from the back of the bus and added as the bottle made its way to the front of the bus. Neither my brother nor I lost.
Our first night at the camp, dinner plans were announced. On the menu? Japanese curry! Not only would it be my favorite Nihon-shoku (Japanese style) meal, but we also were all making different versions of curry, based on our different groups or cabins we were in. I remember not eating a lot that night. The next night, I shouldn’t have been shocked to learn (but I was!) that leftover curry was our entrée de jour. I swear the next night after that was some take on leftover curry as well. With so many different cabin’s versions to choose from, how could you possibly get bored? I’m not 100% sure this weekend was the turning point in my relationship with Japanese curry and yet, I don’t have a clear memory of my dislike of it ever again. Have you ever heard that ‘rule’ that to get a kid to like a certain vegetable you have to serve it to them at least 15 different ways? I’m evidence of this.
Why did I pair Pink Moon with this album? Enter the simple answer. I first heard Nick Drake when I was in Tokyo. It was a theme song or at least quality memory song of a friend and mine in Japan. This song will always remind me of her and our memories. This album and curry handpies pair together for me, like curry and rice.
Japanese Curry Handpies
Makes 8 handpies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 onion, minced
- 1 carrot, minced
- 1 pound of grass fed ground beef
- 2 cups of water
- 4 Japanese curry roux blocks (1/2 of a 140 g package)
- 4 ounces of unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 ounces whole wheat flour (about 1/2 cup)
- 4.75 ounces of white unbleached flour (about 1 cup)
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 1 whole egg
Instructions
- Preheat oil to medium in a large pot. Add the minced onion and carrots. Cook for a few minutes then add the ground beef. Cook until the ground beef is no longer pink, using a spoon or spatula to break up the ground beef.
- Add the water to the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the Japanese curry roux blocks. Mix well and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the curry has thickened. Remove from heat. Cool completely.
- In a mixer (or food processor), combine the flour, salt and butter. Mix on a low speed until the ingredients are just combined and there are still larger pieces of butter intact. Slowly pour the water into the mixer, while it is still running on low. The dough will look still very piecemeal. Using your fingers, test to see if the dough will stick together and give a large chunk a good pinch. If it stays together, you are good to go. If after your pinch it falls apart, add water 1/4 tsp or less at a time.
- Pour the dough onto your counter and shape it into a large pile. Knead it a few times, only 5-7 times, until it is sticking together and some of the large butter pieces have smoothed out. There will still be some larger pieces/chunks visible. If your dough is soft and sticky, put it into saran wrap and freeze for 20 minutes before using.
- Divide the dough in half. Using a dusting of flour if needed (and as much as needed!), Roll out the dough into a thin yet still pliable, without breaking, disc. Perhaps 1/8 inch thick or slightly less. Using a bowl that is about 7-8 inches in diameter, trace out as many circles as possible. Repeat with the other half of the dough and any remaining pieces until you’ve used up all the dough.
- Using a spoon, place about 1/4 cup of filling onto each circle of dough. Using water, brush half of a circle with water, fold over into the other half of the dough and using a fork, seal the half moon shape together. Repeat with the other 7 circles. Once done, place into the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Take the whole egg and crack it into a small bowl. Add 1 tsp of water and mix well. Brush this mixture over each of the half moons. Using scissors, cut slits into the top of each half moon.
- Bake the pies for about 40 minutes or until golden brown. Let the pies cool slightly prior to eating.
Notes
Yes this delicious curry recipe will make much more filling than this recipe requires. Fortunately, it is easy to turn the leftovers into a tasty dinner. Top cooked ramen noodles with the curry or place on top of rice with some cooked veggies on the side.