Curry rice with mushrooms

Ingredients for today's curry dish.
Left on the bamboo basket, there are vegetables including
three kinds of mushroom. Sliced pork on the plastic tray. Ginger and garlic in front.

While cooking sauce, I also sauté meat with butter and curry powder.

Finally, mix the solid roux into the sauce.

After coming back to Japan, I often go shopping to find good foodstuffs and cook myself.

While I was living in Copenhagen till a few months ago, I unfortunately could not find stuffs which could stimulate my appetite even in the most expensive shops. Foreign people have, of course, their own taste and preference and I shall not complain about it. Nevertheless, I believe that the Japanese people put much more importance on their food than most other people in the world and that we can find really excellent foodstuffs in Japanese shops. If you cannot believe me, you must come to Japan and go to the basement of any department store. I am sure that you will be surprised by the variety and quolity of foods which are offered there.

Personally I seldom go to department stores in downtown to buy foodstuffs. Because, I have good possibility in the neighborhood of Hamadayama. There are big supermarkets such as Seiyu, Olympic and Summit. If your budget is limited, you can find things at reasonable prices in Comodi Iida. For demanding people, there is Escamare, where you can find particularly healthy and ecologically perfect foodstuffs. There are also numerous private shops and peddlers coming into narrow alleys of residential areas.

(Check this page for further information on the supermarkets in the Hamadayama area.

Autumn is the season for various mushrooms. Therefore I decided to combine them them with my favorite dish - "curry rice". Those people who have never been to Japan might not imagine that rice with curry sauce is a sort of "national dish" in Japan. Of course, we eat sushi and tempura. But, curry rice is by far the most popular dish. Children are eager to eat curry rice, though they are usually weak in "hot" curry. For Japanese politicians, curry rice is the standard lunch dish during sessions of the parliament as well as among their supporters.

The specialty of the curry of my family is the abundant use of ground ginger and garlic. Of course, onion slices are the indispensable basis for tasty curry sauce. As mushrooms I chose king trumpet mushroom (eringi), shiitake and sheep's head (maitake).

The convenience of curry dish is that you can use pre-cooked curry roux and you do not have to make curry sauce yourself from many exotic ingredients. The availability of the so called "instant curry roux" made curry rice the national dish in Japan. It was first put into the market in 1926 and the now dominant solid type was introduced in 1954.

As for meat, I prefer pork to any other meat. I also prefer sliced meats to diced meats. Potatoes and carrots are nearly indispensable ingredients for Japanese home made curry rice.

So, please check the final product. It looks delicious, isn't it? Unfortunately, you cannot sense its frangrance in the internet, which really stimulates your appetite.

2008.10.27