Lunch is solved on a busy weekday with this easy instant pot Japanese chicken curry.
I don’t know how mums can survive without an instant pot in the kitchen, but this beautiful little pot has been saving me a lot of time in cooking a lot of complex authentic dishes like this Japanese chicken curry without sacrificing the flavor of the dish when cooked in the traditional way.
This instant pot Japanese chicken curry is easy, super-fast to make with simple ingredients and only ONE pot needed. It is super comfy, hearty and packed with flavors!
People get usually intimidated by authentic traditional recipe from different cuisines and culture that they don’t usually cook or eat. I read a lot about this Japanese curry, its origin, variation and everything about the ingredients and the special roux they use for it. And made a recipe that is a mix and match from everything I read with a simplest fastest way to do it.
As I told you I read a lot about it and I decided to try the most interesting combination of ingredients to see how it will taste because it sure looked very delicious!
This traditional Japanese curry has a lot of variation of add on but the basic ingredients are the same all over japan: chicken, Japanese roux, onion, carrots and potato.
What is the Japanese curry roux?
It is a type of roux in block form, it kind look like a chocolate bar but it is not! It is a solidified mixture of flour, butter and curry spices. You can find a lot of Japanese roux brands with different spice levels and flavor varieties. My favorite and most accessible brand for Japanese curry roux is “golden curry” by S&B, I can find it anywhere here in Dubai from big to small supermarkets in the Asian aisle.
Secret ingredient for the best instant Japanese chicken curry: chocolate!
But the secret of a very delicious Japanese chicken curry that you taste in restaurants but you can never quite figure out why it is different, lies in the small secret ingredients they add. You can mix and match with the add on but I tried few and what I liked the most is those two little add on: ketchup and chocolate.
yes! You read it right CHOCOLATE in a curry!
Before rushing into conclusion, trust me on this! the chocolate will elevate your Japanese chicken curry to another level of deliciousness and richness and it will help soften the spiciness of the curry. It is a “secret” ingredients so don’t the whole bar of chocolate in your curry!
As I mentioned the chocolate will help soften the spiciness of the curry. The Japanese roux is a readymade roux that you can find online and in grocery store in the Asian section. There are several flavors for this roux. It can be with no spice at all, mild of very spicy. For our household and because we have a little baby girl that enjoy food with us, I used a mix of two Japanese roux instead of one package of the same flavor: mild and medium hot
But you can use spicier ones if you can tolerate spiciness more.
Serve this delicious and quick instant pot Japanese chicken curry with some steamed white Japanese rice aside and enjoy it with your family in less than 30 min of preparations and one pot to wash after!
Don’t forget to read the recipe below till the end with the notes before start cooking so you can know everything ahead of time. And this curry tastes even better the second day, the flavors intensify in a very beautiful way. So make sure you check the notes on how to store the leftovers.
Make sure to check my other 30 min or less recipe and one pot recipes for quick and easy recipe ideas.
If you want to buy a pressure cooker like the one I’m using, you can see here the model that I have!
Instant pot Japanese chicken curry with secret ingredient
Equipment
- pressure cooker or instant pot
Ingredients
- 3 big white onions cut into wedges see notes
- 2 medium carrots sliced into bites size
- 3 medium potatoes Yukon better than russet for this, cut into quarters
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 750 g boneless chicken breasts cut into see notes
- 1 tbsp. oil any neutral oil for cooking
For the curry sauce:
- 4 cups chicken unsalted stocks or water or vegetable stock , see notes
- 1 pack Japanese curry roux 220-230g find the one I used in the article above, see notes
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. ketchup
- 1 piece of high quality dark chocolate 15 g find the one I used in the article above, see notes
For serving:
- Japanese steamed white rice or any short grain rice on your choice
Instructions
STEP 01: Prepare your veggies
- cut and prepare all your veggies. Mince and prepare your ginger and garlic. And cut your chicken into bite size pieces.
STEP 02: prepare the curry
- set your instant pot into “sauté” mode. When the pot is hot, add the oil and add the onion and stir, after a minute add the ginger and garlic and mix until you start to smell the garlic aroma. Add the chicken pieces and stir until mixed well with the onions. Add the carrots and potato and mix.
- Add the chicken broth and mix all together, then use your wooden spatula to press down all the veggies and chicken into the liquid.
- Bread down the Japanese roux into smaller blocks and place on the top of the mixture. DO NOT MIX THE ROUX WITH THE MIXTURE. The roux should be placed on top otherwise it will sink and burn on the bottom of the pot.
STEP 03: Cook the curry
- Cover the pot and lock the lid, set the steam release handle to sealing and set the pot to “meat/stew” program for 15 minutes. Let it naturally release the pressure after done cooking for 5 minutes, and then quick release the remaining pressure until the steam nozzle drops.
- Unlock the lid and add the ketchup, soy sauce and chocolate and mix everything very well until all the chocolate, and remaining Japanese roux is dissolved.
STEP 04: Serve the curry
- Serve on individual plates over steamed Japanese rice
Video
Notes
- Onion cut: the best way to cut the onions for this curry is to cut fist the onion in half. Than cut each half into 5 wedges.
- Chicken: for this recipe traditionally they use chicken thigh, but I prefer the breasts because it is easier to clean and cut into pieces. But you can use any kind of chicken pieces you like.
- Japanese curry roux: for my curry I preferred to use half of two level of spiciness (mild and medium hot)
- Chocolate: the adding of the chocolate is optional and won’t affect the final outcome, it is a very minimal add in that will a richness, if you want to try it make sure you use a dark good quality chocolate 60% and more like this one.
- Leftovers: this Japanese curry is one of the recipe that taste better the next day. You can store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days. When reheating from fridge you might need to add some extra water to loosen up the curry sauce.
It is not recommended to freeze this curry as it contains carrots and potato that will retain water and fall apart after defrosting you can still freeze your curry up to one month but I recommend to remove the root vegetables from it before freezing. - Be aware of the salt content: I recommend using a low salt or unsalted chicken stock or any other stock, if it not available switch to water as the roux cubes itself contain salt and the soy sauce also added. Do not any additional salt, before tasting the final dish because you might end with a very salty curry.
- Thick curry: if you find your final curry very thick you can add more water and loosen it up. And you might even reduce the quantity of the roux from the beginning.