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Japanese curry

Japanese-style curry dish

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Along with the sauce, a wide variety of vegetables and meats are used to make Japanese curry. The basic vegetables are onions, carrots, and potatoes. Beef, pork, and chicken are the most popular meat choices. Katsu curry is a breaded deep-fried cutlet (tonkatsu; usually pork or chicken) with Japanese curry sauce.

Curry originates in Indian cuisine and was introduced to Japan by the British. It was progressively reinvented to suit Japanese tastes and ingredients. Japanese curry has little resemblance to curries from other regions, and stands on its own as uniquely Japanese. The combination of sweet, sticky Japanese short-grain rice with a thickened curry sauce has led to the unique evolution of Japanese curry. The dish became popular and available for purchase at supermarkets and restaurants in the late 1960s. It is so widely consumed that it can be called a national dish.

History

Early Japanese curry

Curry first appeared in Japanese cookbooks in 1872 during Japan's Meiji period, most likely having been introduced by the British Royal Navy with the spice mix called curry powder. At the time, the Indian subcontinent was under British colonial rule. The Imperial Japanese Navy then adapted the dish, substituting bread with rice and thickening the curry with flour to prevent spilling while at sea. It was classified as yōshoku (Western style food) since it came from the West. By 1877, curry appeared on the menu of Seiyoken, a Tokyo restaurant.

Curry is commonly eaten as a rice dish in Japan, karē raisu (curry rice). The oldest Japanese mention of a dish called raisu karī (literally 'rice curry') appeared in cookbooks from 1872, but the karī in the name changed to karē around the turn of the 20th century. It was also described in an 1872 report, according to which foreign experts ate curry at the Tokyo branch of the Hokkaidō prefectural government. The word was popularized by American professor William S. Clark who was employed at the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) in 1877. However, in 1873, there was a dish called curry rice on the menu of the Imperial Japanese Army Military Academy, so the word did not originate from Clark.

During the Meiji era (1868–1912), curry was still perceived in the private sector as a luxury cuisine for the wealthy, available only in high-end yōshoku specialty restaurants. Since its introduction, it was reinvented with ingredients from Japanese cuisine to make it suitable for Japanese tastes.

The beginning of the popularization of curry and the emergence of derivative foods

In 1905, the dish became affordable for the general population with the introduction of domestically produced curry powder. In the 1920s, the predecessors of today's well-known S&B Foods and House Foods began selling curry powder.

In the early 1900s, restaurants created various derivatives of curry rice. The first curry udon and curry soba were made in Tokyo or Osaka in 1904 or 1909. Curry udon and curry soba are made by soaking katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) in boiling water to dissolve the umami components, adding curry to the broth, and then adding potato starch to thicken the broth and pour it over the udon or soba.

The first curry bread (karē pan) was introduced in 1927, and the first katsu curry in 1918 or 1921 or 1948.

Popularization as home cooking

In 1945, Oriental Co Ltd developed a powdered instant curry roux, and in 1950, Bell Shokuhin Co Ltd developed a block-shaped instant curry roux, and Japanese curry quickly spread throughout Japan as a dish that could be easily prepared at home. In 1948, Japanese curry was used in school meals for the first time.

In 1963, House Foods introduced "Vermont Curry" (バーモントカレー), an instant curry roux made with apples and honey, which exploded in popularity. This product brought a mild sweetness to Japanese curry, which had been perceived as a spicy, adult dish, and made Japanese curry one of children's favorite dishes.

In 1968 (or 1969), Otsuka Foods Company became the first company in the world to commercialize a retort pouch food product. The product was a Japanese curry called "Bon Curry" (ボンカレー). Curry became a food that could be stored for long periods of time and, like instant noodles, could be eaten in three minutes with boiling water. Since detailed technical information on the retort pouch, which was a military technology, was not publicly available, Otsuka Foods Company developed it in cooperation with a Group company that developed intravenous drugs using high-temperature sterilization technology.

Today, curry is one of the most popular daily dishes in Japan. In 2013, production totaled 7,570 tons of curry powder and 91,105 tons of ready-made sauces; sales in 2008 amounted to 7 billion yen for curry powder and 86 billion yen for ready-made sauces. By 2000, curry was a more frequent meal than sushi or tempura.

Curry similar to that served in the Indian subcontinent is known as Nakamura-ya curry. It was introduced to Japan by Rash Behari Bose (1886–1945) when he began to sell curry at Nakamura-ya, a bakery in Tokyo.

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