Cuisine: Japanese
Region: Common

A classic, hearty, every-day Curry Udon meal from Japan. Easy to make, it can be as spicy as you want it to be – no hard rules here. Enjoy!

Serves : 4
Cooking time: approx. 30 minutes
You will need: two pots, a colander and a frying pan

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp oil,
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp of flour,
• 1 to 2 Tbsp curry powder,
• 5 cups hot vegetable stock, or Shiitake mushroom stock,
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce,
• 4 bundles Udon noodles,
• 3 to 4 scallions, chopped.

Instructions

1. Dice the scallions.
2. First, heat up the vegetable stock. You want it hot but you don’t want it boiling or scalding hot.
3. Put the pan on the stove, add the oil and turn the fire on to medium-high heat.
4. After the oil is heated turn the fire down to low-heat.
5. Add the curry powder and stir for a minute or two.
6. Add the flour and stir for another minute or two. Make sure you that curry and flour are mixed well in the pan.
7. Now it’s time for the hot vegetable stock: pour it into the frying pan all at once and stir well. The mixture will become thick in no time.
8. Add the soy sauce and stir.
9. Simmer until the mixture is thick enough to coat a wooden spoon.
10. While the sauce is simmering, start cooking the Udon noodles: boil water in a pot, add the Udon and cook them to al dente.
11. Drain the boiling water, and rinse the Udon with cold(ish) water.

Serving

Distribute the Udon noodles in 4 bowls, ladle curry sauce into each bowl and garnish with the scallions. Serve immediately.

Notes on Karei (Curry) Udon Noodles

• When it comes to cooking oil, rapeseed oil is one of the cooking oils traditionally used in Japanese Cuisine. Olive oil will also do.
• You can substitute wheat flour with rice flour, too.
• Do adjust the Curry powder quantity depending on the type and heat of your Curry.
• You could use mushroom stock instead of vegetable stock. See below.
• If your vegetable stock is not hot, instead of pouring it in all at once pour it in little by little while whisking the mixture – otherwise the sauce will turn out lumpy. (Don’t want that.)
• If you don’t already have a vegetable stock here’s a generic recipe on How to Make Vegetable Stock and/or Shiitake Mushroom Stock.
• Enjoy!