Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:21:44 JST Adrianna Tan

   One of the things I see people do when they make Japanese curry from the roux cubes is that they don’t add extra things to it. Out of the box, it’s a little bland (even if you get the spiciest). You have to add things to it.

   Sauté onions, carrots, celery. Add roux cubes (I like 1 large cube per person), sauté with the vegetables until melted down and they cover the vegetables. Add any protein you are using at this point (except seafood, if using that add it at the end).

   Then add some water or stock, enough to cover. Add potatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer. Add soy sauce, white pepper, hot sauce. A few slices of apple (yes!) and a black tea bag (I use Ceylon tea). Remove tea bag after 3 minutes.

   I like to add cayenne pepper, more hot sauce, and sambal at this point to really feel something (Japanese curry isn’t spicy at all. Even the cubes that say extra spicy).

   #Food #Cooking
   Those are the hacky hacks I do to make a restaurant quality Japanese curry at home.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:24:34 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Granny Art (Shrimp) (Joni)

     @artcollisions adds body to stews and curries. Just added another toot in the thread about it

   • Embed this notice
     Granny Art (Shrimp) (Joni) (artcollisions@vis.social)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:24:35 JST Granny Art (Shrimp) (Joni)

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte what does adding the tea do?

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:24:46 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     The point of the apple is that a good Japanese curry actually has a pretty fruity flavor to it. If you have Japanese ‘bulldog’ sauce you can also just add that into the curry. The black tea thing is a trick that a lot of people use across different cooking cultures to mellow or add body to stews and curries. My friend Krish Ashok who wrote the amazing book Masala Lab advocates for this in Indian curries as well.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:26:18 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Claire, The Ultimate Worrier

     @waitworry just putting into water

   • Embed this notice
     Claire, The Ultimate Worrier (waitworry@sakurajima.moe)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:26:19 JST Claire, The Ultimate Worrier

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte the directions on the box even tells you to put most of those things in what are people doing

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:27:01 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     I like to add steamed kabocha squash. You can add it raw to cook but I like steaming squash with soy sauce and then adding it into the curry to cook down even more until crumbly. You can also add dashi or stock instead of water.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:27:12 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     If you’re south or southeast asian I think it helps to think of Japanese curry as ‘a type of stew’ to enjoy it. It definitely isn’t really a curry the way we know it.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:32:20 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     In SF, my fave Japanese curry places are Curry Hyuga, Nippon Curry and Muracci’s. Curry Hyuga has a good selection of chilli powders from across the world with increasing levels of spice (rated 1-7) at the table. Nippon is a branch of a famous Japanese curry spot from Japan. Muracci’s is a FiDi stalwart that is consistently one of the better places to eat in the financial district.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:38:11 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • K-ZO da Snowman

     @kzodasnowman oh yeah that’s so great too

   • Embed this notice
     K-ZO da Snowman (kzodasnowman@spore.social)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:38:12 JST K-ZO da Snowman

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte My sensei adds apples and coffee and it SMACKS.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:51:54 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Claire, The Ultimate Worrier

     @waitworry i have so many south Asian friends who are utterly perplexed by it

   • Embed this notice
     Claire, The Ultimate Worrier (waitworry@sakurajima.moe)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:51:55 JST Claire, The Ultimate Worrier

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte like I know Japanese culture kind of broadly breaks cooking up into three main branches (traditional Japanese, Chinese, "western") and curry is considered western food

   • Embed this notice
     Claire, The Ultimate Worrier (waitworry@sakurajima.moe)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 11:51:56 JST Claire, The Ultimate Worrier

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte oh yeah I guess it makes sense people would think of it as like Asian food when it is really more like English-Japanese food since somehow Japan got curry by way of the British instead of from greater Asia

   • Embed this notice
     Patrick Lam :tinoflag: (va2lam@mastodon.nz)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 12:17:11 JST Patrick Lam :tinoflag:

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Vietnamese curry is not the same as Japanese curry but closer to it than South Asian curry...

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 12:17:11 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Patrick Lam :tinoflag:

     @va2lam Vietnamese curry looks quintessentially South Indian to me, but evolved over a long period and mixed with other influences

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:10:53 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • May Likes Toronto

     @mayintoronto tomato! Even banana!

   • Embed this notice
     May Likes Toronto (mayintoronto@beige.party)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:10:54 JST May Likes Toronto

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Got an apple allergy in the house, so alas, no apples for us.

     Definitely trying the rest of that next time.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:12:00 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • May Likes Toronto

     @mayintoronto any fruit you can eat!

   • Embed this notice
     May Likes Toronto (mayintoronto@beige.party)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:12:01 JST May Likes Toronto

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte *cries in banana allergy*

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:12:40 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • pmonks (330ppm)

     @pmonks soooon

   • Embed this notice
     pmonks (330ppm) (pmonks@sfba.social)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:12:41 JST pmonks (330ppm)

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte I for one am going to buy the shit out of your seemingly inevitable combo cook book / grocery store list / Bay Area restaurant guide. The framing of “here’s how to make X properly, here are the good stores to get the right ingredients, and here are the restaurants that make it well” is 👨🍳💋.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:13:19 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • consumableJoy
     • That’s a moray

     @Bumblefish @consumablejoy another commenter mentioned that in Japan, curry is seen as a western dish. That helps. I really like it with tonkatsu

   • Embed this notice
     That’s a moray (bumblefish@mastodon.scot)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:13:20 JST That’s a moray

     in reply to

     • consumableJoy

     @consumablejoy @skinnylatte Yeah, never been a fan, and I guess you could add stuff to it but at that point I think I'd just make real curry?

   • Embed this notice
     consumableJoy (consumablejoy@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 13:13:21 JST consumableJoy

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte I’ve always disliked Japanese curry but perhaps this framing is the unlock I need