Japanese Curry Udon

Japanese curry udon is the perfect comfort food that is easily ready in less than 30 minutes on a lazy day. The slippery, thick and chewy udon is the perfect noodles to pair with the stew-like Japanese curry.

We love to cook Japanese curry udon from these instant roux that you can find in the local Asian supermarket. It's easy, efficient, and oh-so-delicious! There's so many delicious ways to enjoy these roux, but Japanese curry udon is one of our favorite.

What is Japanese Curry Udon (カレーうどん)

Japanese curry udon is one of the most popular curry dish in Japan, along with curry rice and curry bread. Curry was first introduced in Japan by the British from India. It since has evolved as a National dish and while traveling to Japan, we noticed a lot of restaurant specialized in curry! We used to always eat this type of curry with rice, but one day, while browsing the internet, we discovered a popular Hawaiian restaurant serving it with udon!! Yes, this restaurant is Marukame, and we since have had the chance to try it in Hawaii back in 2018. However, we developed this recipe before, and it's actually pretty similar!

Japanese Curry Udon is such a simple dish and only consists of 3 basic components: the curry, the udon and the soup base. It's so versatile and can easily be customized. We love this recipe because you can easily add any toppings that you have on hand and make it your own!

More related recipes:

• Easy & Quicks Spicy Creamy Udon Noodles
• Japanese Creamy Masago Pasta with Poached Eggs
• 30-Minute Fried Udon Noodles with Pork Stir-Fry

What Udon Noodles to use

Alvin's favourite kind of noodle is definitely Udon. If you're not familiar with these, they're a thick wheat flour based noodle used a lot in the Japanese cuisine. They're chewy in texture, and very slippery. If your chopstick skills are not that great, you might want to use a fork! We usually buy the ones in the frozen section, we find these have the best texture, and since they're actually already cooked, you just need to re-heat them in hot water, or as per instructions on the package. You can also buy the dry, vacuum sealed or fresh ones. Fresh is probably best, but we were never able to find any.

What makes Japanese curry special

If you're like us and don't usually love curry, you might want to try Japanese curry. It is definitely less overpowering than a lot of curries we've tried. It's sweeter, milder, yet still very rich and fragrant. It's the ideal curry for beginners! You can usually buy it in your asian supermarket. Be careful when buying a box, there is different level of spiciness! Some of then can be very spicy, we personally almost always chose the mild version, this one is very good.

Toppings

We added a poached egg, homemade tempura crumbles and green onions. But here's a few other toppings that are popular:

• Chicken Katsu
• Shrimp Tempura
• Carrots
• Cheese
• Onions

Ingredients

Curry Udon

• Udon noodles is one of the 3 components of the dish and we personally believed that if you swap them for other noodles, it just isn't the same. We like to use the frozen kind, but if you're able to find fresh ones, it would be even better! You can follow this recipe to make your own udon noodles.
• Instant Japanese roux is the star of the show and we love this brand. We like to get the mild one, but if you can handle heat, buy a spicier version!
• Water will help you dissolve the roux.
• Dashi stock is the secret ingredient to add umami flavor to your curry sauce.
• Poached egg to add protein to your meal, but if you're craving for more, you can add chicken katsu, or any meat of your choice.
• Green onion for topping, to add a little greenery!
• Tempura crumbs add a nice crunch to your dish, because we love balancing out textures. We like to make our own because it's so easy, but they are also usually available at your local asian supermarket.

Instructions

Make your curry sauce. For the Japanese Curry, bring 50 ml of water to a boil in a saucepan. Turn off the heat and add the Japanese Curry sauce and mix until it has melted. When the all of the Japanese Curry Sauce has melted, add 1/2 cup of dashi stock and mix together. Cover for 10 minutes, and set aside. 

Make the tempura crumbs. Combine the egg whites, all-purpose flour and ice-cold water in a mixing bowl. Gently fold to mix, but do not overmix. It should be a little bit lumpy. In a frying pan, heat oil over high heat and fry the batter in drops to make small size tempura crumbs. Fry until golden and crispy. Remove the tempura crumbs from heat and drain off excess oil. Set aside. 

Cook the udon noodles. Bring water in a large saucepan to a boil and season with salt. Cook the udon noodles for only 1 minute, or follow the packaging's instructions. When the noodles are ready, drain off excess water and run cold tap water over the pasta to stop them from cooking and sticking. Set aside.

Cook your poached egg. Fill 3/4 of a saucepan with water and bring to a simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl and set aside. When the water is simmering, make a whirlpool in the water by stirring in a circular motion with a spoon. Quickly and gently drop the egg from the bowl into the whirlpool. Let eggs cook for about 3 minutes and remove from water using slotted spoon. Place eggs on a bowl or plate and set aside.

Assemble. Put the udon noodles in a serving bowl and pour in the Japanese curry sauce. For toppings, add the poached egg, tempura crumbs and chopped green onions.