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Diana Lampe's Japanese curry rice and potato salad

Diana Lampe

Japanese potato salad.
Japanese potato salad.Rohan Thomson

The following recipes are Japanese favourites that originally came from other places. Japanese potato salad is an appetising side dish usually served in small portions or as a sandwich filling. It is creamy and crunchy with partly mashed potatoes, crisp vegetables and Japanese "Kewpie" mayonnaise. The best type of potato to use for the salad is an all-purpose potato such as Desiree or Nicola. "Kewpie" mayonnaise is available in Asian shops and some supermarkets; if you prefer, use a good quality egg mayonnaise. I find the local Doodles Creek mayonnaise is a good alternative. There are a few extra ingredients you can include in the potato salad if you like - hard-boiled eggs, sweet corn, ham and apple are excellent additions.

Japanese curry rice is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. Its roots are Anglo-Indian and it is not at all like an Indian curry, but more like the fruity and spicy curries my mother used to make. Most people in Japan use Japanese curry sauce mix to make curry rice. It comes in different strengths and is available here from Asian shops. The sauce mix comes as a block of curry roux that is divided into sections. This is broken into pieces and added to the meat, vegetables and gravy at the end of the cooking time.

I have made the curry roux from scratch to achieve a home-cooked flavour without any additives. I have used S&B Japanese curry powder and the result is very tasty. My Japanese daughter-in-law has given it her tick of approval. Japanese curry rice is traditionally eaten with a spoon. Wafu simply means Japanese-style and the delicious wafu dressing is easy to make and handy to keep in the fridge. Use it for a mixed salad as in the recipe or with leafy greens.

Wafu salad.
Wafu salad.Rohan Thomson
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Japanese potato salad

Serves 5-6

3 medium all-purpose potatoes (about 600g)
1 tsp sea salt
1 medium carrot, quartered lengthways and sliced
½ small red onion, finely sliced
1 Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
½ cup cooked sweet corn kernels or 1 x 125g can (optional)
1-2 slices ham, shredded or diced (optional)

Japanese curry rice and wafu salad.
Japanese curry rice and wafu salad.Rohan Thomson

Mayonnaise dressing

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3-4 tsp rice-wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅓ to ½ cup Japanese Kewpie or egg mayonnaise

Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes and place in a saucepan with plenty of salted cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Cook the carrot in salted water until barely tender and drain.

Mix the sliced onion and cucumber with half a teaspoon of salt and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes. This will make them crunchy.

Drain the potatoes and roughly mash with a fork leaving some chunks of potato. Tip into a bowl and cool. when add the carrot and the chopped egg, corn or ham (if using).

To make the mayonnaise dressing, mix the rice-wine vinegar with the sugar, salt and pepper to dissolve and then add the mayonnaise, one third of a cup at first.

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Rinse the salt from the onion and cucumber and squeeze to remove the water. Pat dry with paper towels and add to the bowl with the potato and carrot.

Finally, add the mayonnaise dressing to the salad and gently mix through. Add more mayonnaise now if needed. Taste the salad and adjust to balance the acidity and seasoning. I sometimes add a little mustard. Cover and chill for an hour or two for the flavour to develop.

Serve the potato salad cold and in small portions as a side dish or as a sandwich filling with lettuce. Decorate with sieved hard-boiled egg yolk if you wish.

Variations: Add any of the following to the potato salad: Japanese Karashi mustard or Dijon mustard, diced red apple, sliced celery or radish, cooked green beans. Spring onions can be used instead of red onion.

Japanese curry rice

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Use a better cut of beef such as Scotch fillet and cut into fairly small cubes to cook more quickly.

Serves 5-6

500g chicken, pork or beef, cubed
2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
2 medium onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp grated ginger
2 medium carrots cut at an angle into chunks (rangiri cut)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-4 cups water and 1 stock cube
2 bay leaves
1 x 12cm length celery stalk
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 quantity homemade curry roux (or 1 x 100g box Japanese curry sauce mix)
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tsp soy sauce
1 Fuji or red delicious apple, grated

To serve

steamed Japanese rice
Japanese fukujinzuke​ pickle (optional)

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Heat the oil in a saute pan until quite hot and brown the meat in two batches and set aside. Add a dash more oil to the pan if needed and fry the onions until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and carrots and stir- fry for a few minutes.

Return the meat to the pan and add salt and pepper, three cups of water, stock cube, bay leaves and celery stalk and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer partly covered for 15 minutes (chicken and pork) or 30 minutes (beef), stirring occasionally.

After that time add the potatoes and continue simmering until the meat and potatoes are tender. This time will naturally vary with the type of meat. Add more liquid if needed. Remove and discard the bay leaves and celery.

Dissolve the curry roux in a spoonful of gravy from the pot or boiling water and stir back into the meat and gravy a little at a time. After it cooks and thickens, taste and add more roux until you are happy with the spiciness. (If using Japanese curry sauce mix, break off the pieces and dissolve in the gravy).

Stir in the tomato sauce (ketchup), Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce into the curry and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the grated apple to sweeten and thicken. Taste and adjust the curry to your liking. You could add half a teaspoon of garam masala.

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Serve the curry poured over steamed rice with fukujinzuke pickle on the side. Serve a salad and/or a green vegetable such as broccoli or snow peas with the Japanese curry rice.

Variations: Japanese curry roux can be used to make a seafood curry or a vegetarian curry with mushrooms and tofu.

Curry roux

It is a good idea to make a double quantity and keep half in the freezer for next time. If you can't find Japanese curry powder, use a regular brand from the supermarket and add garam masala for extra spice.

40g butter
40g plain flour
1 tbsp S & B Japanese curry powder
1 tsp sugar

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Fry the roux, stirring often for about 20 minutes until it is nut brown. Add the curry powder, salt, pepper and sugar and fry for a couple more minutes.

Wafu mixed salad

The mixed salad in the photo has lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, snow pea sprouts, radish and wakame (dried seaweed). You could use spring onion, asparagus, shredded cabbage, shredded carrot, daikon, baby spinach, celery, alfalfa or bean sprouts, edamame (soy beans), shisho, hard-boiled egg or tofu.

Wafu dressing

1 tbsp rice-wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1-2 tsp castor sugar or honey
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

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Mix the first four dressing ingredients together in a jar. Taste and correct. Add salt and pepper if you like.

Prepare your choice of salad ingredients and arrange in a bowl. At serving time, spoon wafu dressing over the salad and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Variations: Add a teaspoon of grated ginger to the dressing when serving with fish. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil to the basic dressing and it is then called chukka (Chinese-style).

Note: To rehydrate dried wakame, soak a generous pinch in cold water for five minutes. Drain and add to salads and soups.

Diana Lampe is a Canberra writer, dlampe@bigpond.net.au

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