It’s been a while. No, no, I haven’t slacked (maybe I have) but I just haven’t had a whole ton of new stuff to post about. Maybe I should expand and post about some other stuff. I’ll figure it out.
Anyway, one of the local establishments in Boston (Porter Square in Cambridge specifically), Cafe Mami, is pretty well known for serving home-style Japanese food. Their signature items are a couple variations of hambagu and their curry (my favorite is definitely the curry). I think for the last year or two I’ve been going, I’ve always gotten the same thing, Tatsuta Curry (Deep fried chicken in curry). Yum!
Tatsuta Curry – Cafe Mami
I always wondered what the magic was behind the deep fried chicken part. I mean, it can’t be THAT much, can it? Turns out it’s not! After perusing the net and digging through a couple cookbooks, I came up with something (The recipe at Just Hungry was the original inspiration that I worked with). Add in some cheese, an egg, some vegetables…and I found myself with a nice cozy hot/spicy dinner on a cold-ish rainy night. Now if I had a fireplace and football was on, that’s be awesome (football was on but no fireplace sadly…and I had to sit through the “game” that NBC showed – Green Bay beating Dallas down. Game was over in 8 minutes. Ew).
I used a boxed curry mix, the hot mix from S&B. I tried making a curry paste once and failed horribly (it was inedible) and I always thought the boxed curry tasted pretty good, so why not use it. Here’s a picture of it below:
The only thing I was skeptical about was the frying part. I don’t like frying. It’s messy, smelly, and generally unpleasant for the kitchen (Would rather buy the fried food elsewhere) but I figured I’d give this one a try. I used a deep saucepan to try to minimize the splashing and used just enough oil to cover the top of the chicken while it was frying, no more than that. And for cleaning up, for the love of what’s good, please let the oil cool down and then soak it up with paper towels, wrap in a plastic bag and toss in the garbage. Don’t pour that stuff down your drain.
Chicken Karaage Curry
Serves: 4
Time : 1 hour – 1 hour 30 minutes (depends how well you multi-task =P )
Karaage recipe originally adapted from Just Hungry
Ingredients:
- 8 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed
- 1 box (700g) S&B Curry
- 2 carrots
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 6 cups water
- cornstarch for dredging
- eggs
- some mozzarella cheese (shredded or block is fine – I don’t like using fresh mozz)
Marinade:
- 1-2 inch piece of ginger, grated
- 4 tb light soy sauce
- 1.5 tb sake
- sprinkle of sugar
- dab of sesame oil
Method:
For the karaage:
1. Mix the chicken and marinade, set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Heat about 1/2 inch canola oil in a deep saucepan.
3. Lightly dredge chicken thighs in cornstarch.
4. Fry each piece until finished.
For the curry:
1. Add a little bit of oil to a saute pan.
2. Stir fry the onions and carrot until onions are lightly browned.
3. Add in the water, bring to a boil, and simmer until carrots cooked through.
4. Add in the curry mix, bring to a simmer again (If you have a bay leaf or two, feel free to toss them in)
5. When cooked to the right consistency, serve over warm rice.
Plating:
1. In a deep bowl, scoop some warm rice
2. Place some cheese along the top of the rice
3. Place a couple chicken karaage pieces on top of the cheese
4. Pour some piping hot curry over top.
5. Top with an egg, cooked however you like it.
6. Dig in!!!
