Karee & Daifuku

Karee

INGREDIENTS

• butter, for frying
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 large potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 2 large carrots, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 3-4 cubes of Japanese curry roux
• 300g beef, cut into chunks (braising or stewing steak is good)
• salt and pepper, to season
• water
• cooked Japanese rice, to serve

METHODS/STEPS

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper.
2. Cook the beef in a pan with some butter until the chunks are browned all over. Remove from the pan and leave to one side.
3. Add the butter to a large pan and heat over a medium flame. Add the onion.
4. Cook for around 5 minutes until the onions become transluscent.
5. Add the carrots, potatoes and any other vegetables and stir.
6. Fill the pan up with enough water (see instructions on the curry roux package)to completely cover all the ingredients. Bring to the boil.
7. Once boiled, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, keeping an eye on the pan and removing any scum that appears on the surface.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for a few moments. Add the curry roux and beef chunks, and stir well
9. Replace on the heat, and leave to simmer on a medium to low heat for 15 minutes, or until the curry is thick and glossy.
10. Serve with cooked Japanese rice and fukujinzuke red pickles for curry.
11. Tip: Enhance with umami-rich ingredients

You can give your curry an extra umami boost by adding a dash of soy sauce, Worcester sauce or miso at the end. ([1])

Daifuku

Ingredients

• 1 cup shiratama-ko (glutinous rice flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup premade anko (sweet red bean paste)
• 6 strawberries
• Katakuriko potato starch or corn starch for dusting

Preparation

1. Wash strawberries and remove the calyxes. Wrap a strawberry with about a spoonful of anko and rounds to make a ball. Make 6 balls.
2. Put shiratamako in a heat-resistant bowl. Mix 2/3 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar in a small bowl. Pour into shiratamako, stirring well.
3. Put the bowl in microwave and heat the dough for about two minutes. Stir the dough. Heat the dough in microwave until the dough inflates. Stir the mochi quickly.
4. Dust a flat pan with some katakuri-ko starch. Also, dust hands with some katakuri-ko.
5. Remove the hot mochi from the bowl to the pan by hands. The mochi is hot and sticky, so be careful not to burn your hands. Dust hands with more katakuri-ko starch and divide the mochi into 6 pieces by hands. Make 6 flat and round mochi.
6. Put a piece of strawberry and anko filling on a mochi piece and wrap it by stretching mochi. Rounds the daifuku. Repeat the process to make more pieces.

([2])