Japanese Curry Delivery Devices

If you aren't already aware of my obsession with Japanese curry, you're about to find out.  It is one of the best foods on this planet.  Curry is possibly the greatest invention that humankind has produced.  Usually cradled by a nest of rice, it is filled with vegetables and tofu, spices and love.  But then, sometimes we run out of rice. Instead of giving up and crying, I've been exploring alternative curry delivery methods.  Here are two of my new favorites.  I definitely recommend trying them.  Not only are they very yummy, but anything is better than wasted curry leftovers.  

Up top is a Japanese curry sandwich.  The first step was to melt some ghee to spread onto the insides of my sandwich bun.  Then they were lightly toasted under the broiler.  This delicious and decadent technique I learned in India and while I don't use it often, I'm in heaven when I do.  If you don't happen to have ghee handy regular butter will work just as well.  Next I piled on the curry, making sure to leave most of the gravy behind.  While I do love the gravy profoundly, it can get extremely messy in a hurry!  I then put a perilla leaf on top and got ready to munch!

Below is another method using Udon noodles for the carbohydrates.  I'm a big fan of this method and unlike the sandwich, am totally okay with the messiness inherent in this dish.  The gravy gets all over the noodles and makes them so yummy.  It's rather fun to slurp them and a challenge to eat them with chopsticks!  It's also very simple - the udon noodles were boiled according to the normal noodle procedure, then chilled with a rinse of cold water.  The currry was loaded on top with a garnish of cherry tomato and a perilla leaf.  

If you've never tried Japanese curry, it's pretty easy to make and absolutely worth the time to learn!  Here is a link to my basic Japanese curry recipe.  My recipe is vegetarian of course, but the dish is usually made with meat so feel free to replace the tofu with chicken, beef or pork.  The version shown in the dishes above had zucchini added for some extra nutritional punch.