Japanese Curry Udon (Kare Udon)

June 20, 2023 Sonia Wong

This deeply satisfying JAPANESE CURRY UDON (Kare Udon) features a mild, slightly sweet Japanese-style curry sauce that is dialled perfectly — with a viscosity somewhere between sauce and broth — to enrobe each chewy udon strand for the perfectly tasty bite. It will have you reconsider any favouritism for rice, which is saying a lot coming from a rice devotee! And, I always like to point out that Japanese curry is one of the best ways to introduce this type of flavour to children or spice-shy adults because it is mild and sweet and full of umami.

You’ll notice my JAPANESE CURRY UDON recipe doesn’t use store-bought Japanese curry roux cubes found in many Japanese curry recipes. Although very convenient, store-bought curry roux cubes contain a number of additives I prefer not to put into meals I make at home. Contrary to popular belief, Japanese curry is super easy to make from scratch without the cubes! It takes about 10 minutes at the start of the recipe to make the 3-ingredient curry roux — flour, butter and curry powder. That’s it. You can scale up the roux recipe and freeze extra portions for future use. If you prefer to use store-bought curry roux cubes, skip my recipe’s first step of making the roux and sub in roux cubes.

This JAPANESE CURRY UDON is the latest recipe in my 30 MINUTE RECIPES series! Peep the other recipes in the series if you’re into quick and healthy, family meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.

Eat well + be well!

Sonia x

Japanese curry udon - recipe head notes:

1.japanese Curry roux from scratch versus store-bought

This is a homemade version of the store-bought Japanese curry cubes used ubiquitously in Japanese curry recipes. Although very convenient, store-bought curry roux cubes have many additives I personally prefer to avoid. Contrary to popular belief, Japanese curry is super easy to make from scratch without the cubes! It takes 15 minutes at the start of the recipe to make the 3-ingredient curry roux — flour, butter and curry powder. That’s it! You can even scale up the roux recipe and freeze extra portions for future use.

2. S&B curry powder and alternatives

I use S&B brand “oriental curry powder”, a Japanese spice blend containing some of the usual suspects in “curry powder” such as turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cumin, chili pepper, ginger, etc. plus mandarin orange peel which is a little different. This brand is usually found at Japanese or other well-stocked East Asian supermarkets, as well as online (albeit at a premium price). If you can’t source S&B specifically, substitute with your favourite mild “curry powder” blend and it will work very well in the recipe.

3. what type of udon should I use?

Udon noodles come in a few forms: homemade, frozen, fresh vacuum packed and dried. I always use frozen udon because they are easy to find, convenient and have great texture when cooked.

4. what can I substitute for thinly-sliced meat if I can’t find that?

This style of very thinly sliced meat is commonly sold frozen at Chinese, Korean or Japanese supermarkets. If you have great knife skills, you can slice the meat yourself (freeze partially to make it easier). Alternatively, I often use ground meat too. Whether you choose sliced or minced meat, you can use what you like e.g. beef, chicken, pork.

5. can I make this recipe meatless?

For a meatless version, sear some mushrooms instead. Ones that I love for this recipe are any one or a mixture of shiitake, king oyster mushrooms, shimeji and oyster mushrooms. Sear mushrooms in batches on high heat with some oil to get nice brown edges and set aside, then proceed with the curry sauce steps. Add them into the sauce at the end to heat back through before serving over udon.

6. what is instant dashi?

Dashi is a foundational element in Japanese cooking. It is a flavourful broth made from seaweed (kombu) and smoked bonito flakes (katsuobushi). The optional instant dashi powder is a quick hack I use to add a uniquely Japanese flavour and umami that I love but is not an absolute must because we are already using broth in this recipe. I often use kombu dashi powder, a vegetarian version made just from dried kelp alone.

7. what is mirin?

Mirin is similar to sake in that it is a rice wine but with higher sugar and less alcohol. The real deal mirin is made from sweet rice and rice koji. That is what you should look for in the ingredients list, along with water and sea salt. Ideally, avoid the imitation version (aji-mirin) containing added sugar, glucose syrup and/or corn syrup. You can find mirin in Japanese and other East Asian grocery stores, online (e.g. Amazon) and health food stores. I’ve had a harder time finding proper mirin in the international aisle of well-stocked grocery stores which tend to stock aji-mirin. Eden Foods (an American company) and Koyo Foods (a Canadian company) both make organic mirin available in the U.S. and Canada. If you can’t find mirin, substitute equal parts sake and sugar.

8. dark chocolate

Dark chocolate is an ingredient some Japanese home cooks add to their curry. A “secret ingredient”, if you will! Similar to the use of chocolate in Mexican mole, adding that little bit of dark chocolate in the curry adds richness and deepens the colour without overt chocolate flavour. I use chocolate with at least 70% or higher cacao.

you may also be interested in these other recipes from the 30 minute series:

JAPANESE CURRY UDON (KARE UDON)

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