GUEST POST: Nami's Curry Udon Recipe

I am extremely pleased and excited today to introduce a popular blogger in the blogosphere, the lovely Nami of Just One Cookbook.  If you are a lover of Japanese food, I am pretty sure you would have bumped into her wonderful and beautiful blog.  Nami and I 'met' via our blogs awhile ago and I count her as one of my best blogging buddies and friends, apart from being a wonderful cook and great photographer, she is also a lovely friend as I remember sharing my angst with her on certain issues we bloggers face sometimes :O.  Today, she has generously shared a delicious noodle dish - curry udon below and I hope you enjoy.  Do hop over to her blog for her detailed step-by-step pictures.

Thanks so much Nami dear!

Curry Udon

 

Hello everyone, my name is Nami and I share quick and easy Japanese home cooking recipes on my blog Just One Cookbook.  I am very honored that Jen has invited me to guest blog on her beautiful blog today.  Jen and I have been good friends since we’ve met in the foodie blogosphere sometime last year.  I don’t quite remember how and when we got to know each other, but she’s been an amazing blog mentor for me (since she’s been blogging for a while and I was just a newbie back then).  Not only has she been a wonderful and supportive friend, Jen’s blog has been a great inspiration for my food photography and recipes. 

When she requested me to guest post some time last year, I knew I wanted to share some delicious Japanese noodle recipe.  As readers of Smoky Wok, you probably know Jen is really good at making noodles, both Asian and Western style. 

So today I want to share one of my family’s favorite noodle recipe, Japanese Curry Udon, with readers of Smoky Wok.  This recipe was requested by several readers on my own blog as well so I hope you will enjoy this recipe too! 

Curry Udon has been a popular menu item in Japan for a long time but still not so well known yet in the US.  No worries, nowadays you can buy a box of Japanese Curry Roux at many American supermarkets.  It’s very tasty so I hope you try Japanese curry if you haven’t tried it before.  Japanese curry when compared to Thai or Indian curry is much thicker and the spices are milder.  Some people do make curry roux from scratch and that’s definitely on my to-make list.  But for today it’s going to be a quick curry recipe.

Thank you Jen for inviting me today and I hope you enjoy this Japanese noodle recipe!

Curry Udon

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 cups dashi stock

1 Tbsp. oil

1/2 large onion, sliced

1/2 lb your choice of meat/seafood (I used pork “komagire” (thinly cut scraps) today), cut into small pieces

1 Tbsp. sake

2 pieces/blocks of Japanese curry roux

1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Salt to taste

2 udon Packages (I like Sanuki Udon)

1 green onion, finely chopped

Ito Togarashi (Red chili pepper threads) (optional)

Directions:

Prepare dashi stock.

In a large frying pan, heat oil on medium high and sauté onion until soft, about 7-10 minutes.

Add your choice of meat/seafood in the pan and increase the heat to high.  Stir fry until the meat/seafood is almost cooked through.

Add dashi stock and sake in the pan and bring it to a boil. 

When boiling, skim off the scum and fat from the stock. Reduce heat to medium and cook 5-7 minutes.

Turn off the heat and add curry roux.  Using chopsticks or wooden spoon, dissolve the roux completely.  Heat the curry on medium high for 10 minutes.  Make sure you stir once in a while so the curry will not get burnt on the bottom.

Meanwhile Boil a lot of water in a large pot and cook udon for 2-3 minutes and drain well.

Add soy sauce and season with salt (optional).

Serve udon in a bowl and pour over curry.  Top with green onion and Ito Togarashi.  

Enjoy!

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