Cooking Japanese Food (share recipes)

[Tex_Arcana]

Wow, I was beginning to think this thread was going to die a slow death.

Anyway my wife is getting on my case because I have yet to write down my curry recipe anywhere. This recipe is inspired by the manga Adicted to Curry. I like curry and the manga gave me a real jones for it but my wife doesn't like spicy food at all so I decide to try my hand at making a mild Thai style curry. The hard part about writing this down is that I am an "instictive" cook. I've ben doing it so long I have a fair idea of what works and will go together fairly well. I made this recipe up on this basis and this isn't so much as an "exact" recipe as it is a guideline. This is real easy to make and uses a lot of short cuts like canned stuff aand curry roux. It's also made in one pan so clean up is easy.

Tex's Addicted to Curry

1 lbs. of pork stew meat (should work with beef, lamb, seafood, chicken etc.)
2 bell peppers cut in strips(I used a yellow and a green one for color red also works)
1 medium yellow onion cut lenght wise into strips(I used one of the sweet varieties)
1 small can shitaki mushrooms, drained (reg. mushrooms okay)
1 small can of pineapple chunks in own juice
3 Tblspns. of butter
A note on veggies: I picked vegetables that looked good at the store there is some flexablity here to suit your tastes. I used two zucini squashes, a hand full of bean sprouts and a hand full of snow peas. I could have gone with carrots, sweet potatoes, or what ever. The only thing to remember is the denser the vegetable the sooner you have to put it in the pan so it cooks completely, i.e. heavy root vegies go in first, and leafy greens go in last.
1 can of coconut milk (use the thai kind which is thick and creamy it will liquidfy when heated)
1 package of curry roux (I used the mild kind because of my wife, but if you like it spicy then go for it. The kind I used came in a solid chunk that was broken up and spread out in the pot)

Marinade (optional) Since I was using pork stew meat instead of more easily identified tender cuts like pork loin I used a mainade to make sure the meat would be tender and to add flavor. You can use anything like soy sauce or terriyaki sauce or cooking wine or sake. I used a about a half cup of cocnut flavored rum with a few tspns of Kikoman roasted garlic teriyaki. Tender cuts of meat and most seafoods don't really need a mainade.

In a large fry pan or wok (I used a wok) place butter on medium heat. When melted and wok is hot add meat. when the meat has started browning on the outside add onion and bell pepper. Cook until onion becomes semi-transparent and bell pepper brightens in color (meat should be a bit more done as well so make sure you keep stirring the ingrediants around so they all get even heat). When the ingrediants in your wok (or large fry pan) get to that stage then add your veggies by type with heavy veggies first giving them more time to cook and leafy vegies last as the ones before have had time to cook (I added zucinni first then snow peas and then bean sprouts). After the last of the veggies are added add mushrooms then add pineapple with the juice (again use pineapple packed in own juice not syrup), Then add coconut milk stiring it in until contents og pan are well coated and coconut milk is liquidfied. Add Curry and stir until melted into the mixture and coating everything. Keep stiring allowing everything to cook fully and meld flavors. When done remove from heat and serve over steamed rice.

Well that's it. I hope it wasn't too confusing and I tried to put in some tips for you non-cooking folks because this is really easy to make and really delicious. It is the first time I tried to make a mild curry and I wasn't disappointed. It had a great curry flavor even with out the spicy heat that is usually a part of curry. If you have trouble understanding this recipe ask me and I'll try to clairify it for you. This is one of those recipes that looks hard and exotic but is really easy and if it seems a little weird that's just my cooking style, it really tastes great.

One of the better things about this recipe also is that the most exotic ingrediants that would seem hard to find I found really easy at Wal-Mart (yeah I know Wal-Mart is evil but when your broke most of the time....) and they were really inexpensive too. What was really surprising is that the coconut milk and curry was really near the Girls (strawberry) Pocky.
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[Tex_Arcana]