The Store-Bought Shortcut You Should Use For Katsu Curry

Making katsu curry at home is quite an involved process. It requires you to start by making a thick roux, which at times uses a base of stir-fried onion. Kimono Mom's recipe for homemade Japanese curry involves browning chopped onions and cooking them slowly in a flour and butter mixture to make a thick, golden paste. Then, she adds a Japanese brand of curry powder to the roux, along with some ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Afterward, she adds a vegetable stock, which you can substitute with homemade beef stock for a richer flavor profile. Unfortunately, preparing this curry stew is only half the work involved in a katsu curry.

Katsu curry combines two separate dishes into one, essentially doubling your workload. Just One Cookbook's recipe for a proper tonkatsu, or pork cutlet, requires that you score your pork tenderloin, pound it, bread it, and double fry it for a perfect crisp. Breading a pork cutlet to yield the perfect crunchy exterior is an art that calls for some technique and elbow grease. To make things easier on yourself, you could take a shortcut, one which gives you an equally authentic Japanese curry.

The best and most convenient way to make katsu curry at home is to use store-bought Japanese curry roux. The plethora of Japanese curry brands available at Asian grocery stores is proof of their popularity. Sugoi Market states that the most popular pre-made Japanese curry roux is Vermont Curry, while those who prefer spicier curries gravitate towards Golden Curry.

Although homemade Japanese curry is a delight, it's a process that may only be worth your while if you want Japanese curry to be the main act. If you're having a breaded cutlet with your Japanese curry, using a store-bought roux will cut your cooking time in half. All you have to do is add water to the roux to create a thick, rich Japanese curry. But just because you didn't make your own beef stock doesn't mean it won't taste amazing. Pickled Plum shares some interesting ways to make store-bought Japanese roux taste more like the homemade variety: She adds grated apple and ginger to enhance both sweetness and spice. Either way, in the case of an involved dish like katsu curry, do yourself a favor and buy your curry roux premade.