We make Japanese or Korean curry rice quite often, but this time decided to try some new techniques, including cutting the vegetables into large chunks. The results turned out well, so I wanted to document this while fresh in my mind.
Our ingredients: 1 to 1.5 tsp unsalted butter; 1 medium onion, cut into 1” dice (for each onion half, we made 2 cuts along the axis and 1 cross-wise cut); 2 tsp canola oil; 1/2 lb minced chicken; 1400 ml liquid (250 ml no-salt chicken broth + 1150 ml water); 1 small-medium carrot, cut Japanese gem-style (see Note below); 1 large Russet potato, cut into 1.5” x 1” chunks; 6 oz green beans, cut into 1.5” long straws; and two 100 g packets spicy Ottogi Curry sauce mix (a Korean curry mix in powder form that calls for 700 ml liquid per packet – see Note 2).
First, using a medium-size Dutch oven, heat butter on medium heat, then add the onion. Saute until the onion is browned and caramelized. Add canola oil, and then add minced chicken. Saute on medium-high heat until chicken is browned.
Second, pour in 1400 ml water (or in our case, a mix of no-salt chicken broth and water). Then add the potato and carrot. Uncovered, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 10 mins. Then fold in the string beans.
Third, turn off heat but leave on the burner. Stir in the Ottogi curry powder, taking care to smooth out the lumps. Cover and let sit (with the heat still off) to let the flavors meld. (Nov. 2025)
Note: We took inspiration from this blogpost: https://www.justonecookbook.com/simple-chicken-curry/. It includes an explanation of gem-like cuts for carrots to maximize surface area.
Note 2: This is the specific Ottogi curry mix we like: https://www.otoki.com/en/product/product_detail?categorySeqFirst=2&productIdx=2657.
Cooking Adventures 