Vegan Japanese Curry

I have seen several Japanese curry recipes online before, but all are not vegetarian. Fortunately, a couple of months ago, I was blessed to be served vegan Japanese curry (without alliums!) at the vegetarian restaurant I worked for for a month. It was heavenly.

As soon as I got home from work that day, I noted on paper the ingredients that was used in the curry I ate that day. I closed my eyes several times to record in my long term memory and nasal memory (is that a thing?) the details of the curry I tasted that day. The following day, I didn't have work so I made sure to replicate the dish I consciously engraved in my mind.

My husband was never a fan of Japanese curry. As for me, Japanese curry takes a pretty long time to cook and uses a lot of ingredients that I have never thought of putting in my curry recipe (like apple and ketchup). But I was decided to make this tedious dish, whether or not my husband will eat it. I'm making it for me.

So I finished cooking and was so very pleased with the result. However, my husband, as I expected, didn't appreciate it as much as I did. I took it as a complement-- it means it tasted like Japanese curry, the common curry here that he didn't like very much!

It takes a long time to cook but if you ever decide to cook it, cook a lot for sharing. And don't be greedy (like me)! *echoing evil laugh*

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Ingredients

• potato, cut into bite-size chunks

• carrot, cut into chunks smaller than the potato

• TSP and vinegar (optional)

• apple, grated

• curry powder

• turmeric powder

• salt and pepper

• VCP

• flour

• tomato ketchup

• Worcester sauce

Procedure

1. Pre-soak dry TSP chunks in hot water with a bit of vinegar for at least thirty minutes. If you're in a hurry, you can boil it but it might be a bit torn so be very careful in not over boiling it.

2. Once these are soft, drain well and squeeze out water about 3x to remove TSP's aftertaste. Cut well-squeezed TSP chunks into bite-size pieces. Toss them onto a bowl, sprinkle VCP and black pepper, and squeeze some more to let the seasonings to be absorbed.

3. Stir-fry TSP chunks on oil until desired doneness. Remove from pan and set aside.

4. Stir-fry potato and carrot in black pepper. Right after turning off the heat, add VCP and mix well until it has seeped through the vegetables.

5. On a pot with water, toss in the stir-fried carrot and potato chunks. You can also add the TSP chunks here if you want it infused with curry goodness to the core.

6. Add small amounts of ketchup and Worcester sauce (better put too little than put too much or else you'll end up with a sour curry). Mix in the grated apple, curry and turmeric powder.

7. Once its starts to boil, it's time to adjust your flavor. Sorry I don't have accurate measurements that you have to undergo this step. In bowl, dissolve flour or cornstarch and use it to thicken your soup, but take into consideration that your soup will still thicken as you let it boil until the vegetables are soft.

8. Cover the pot and just let it boil until vegetables are very soft-- the Japanese curry versions I've tasted here had an almost melt-in-your-mouth carrots and potatoes in it.

9. Serve on a bowl or on a plate with yin-yang style curry and rice arrangement!

​Tips and tricks This is not the kind of this you cook on a small scale because it's quite tedious. But if you remove the TSP part, it's actually very easy! It will still have a long cooking time, but really short active time! The good thing about this dish is, in the fridge, it can be stored for up to 5 days; then you can just reheat the amount you need and add a little more water if it dries up a bit.