This week I have been at my folks house in the Central Valley, helping them out in any way I can. I’m helping my mom wrap up the end of her school year. This is not only her kids’ last week of third grade but hers, as well, since she’s retiring. Congratulations Mom! I’m also helping out around the house and cooking meals. My brother has been really great about helping me make dinners, which is really nice and also give us opportunities to spend some time together.

Some nights this week I’ve stayed late with my mom in her classroom, sorting through old project templates, posters, class mascots and whatnot, which means dinner preparations can’t begin until later. This does not jive well with my finicky digestive system, even if I bring snacks with me to her school in lieu of eating dinner earlier. So thankfully my brother decided to make dinner. Yea! For this curry dish my bother used the leftover beef rib roast, bok choy and carrots from the beef sukiyaki donabe (hot pot) dish that I made last night, since Dad bought more than enough. While I’m chatting with him, I’m also trying to encourage him to write some guest blog entries, since he also likes to cook and has recently started taking pictures of his dishes.

Japanese Beef Curry
Adapted from S & B Foods Medium-Hot Golden Curry Sauce Mix package directions.

Serves 4 to 6

Meat and Vegetable Ingredients
14 Baby Carrots, sliced 1/4″ think
2 1/2 C Fresh or Frozen Green Peas
1/2 Red Onion, chopped
1 Bell Pepper (Any Color), cored, finely chopped
1/2 Large or 1 Small Bunch Bok Choy, cut into 1″ by 2″ pieces
1 lb Thinly Sliced Beef Rib Roast, cut into 1″ squares

Sauce Ingredients
1  3 1/2-oz. pkg S & B Foods Medium-Hot Golden Curry Sauce Mix, broken into 5 sections*
2 tsp House of Tsang Wok Oil, enough to cover bottom of pan (not 2 T in directions)
2 1/2 C Filtered Water

Grains
4-6 Servings of Cooked Quinoa, Rice, Barley or Noodles (Any Kind)

*This is an instant curry roux sauce mix that comes in bar form and is not gluten-free, since it includes wheat flour as a thickener. For a Japanese curry, the medium-hot spiciness is on par with some of the spicier mild Mexican salsas that I have eaten.

 Directions
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large sauce pan. Saute the onions and beef over medium-high heat for 2 to 4 minutes or until the meat reaches medium doneness (has a only a little bit of pink).

Add in the vegetables and water, and bring them to a boil, stirring constantly and mixing the ingredients from the bottom of the pan to the top. Reduce the heat to a low boil over medium-low heat. Cover and cook the meat and vegetables for 10 minutes. Remove the lid. Simmer and stir the mixture for 3 minutes.

Stir in the sauce until it is fully incorporated. Simmer the curry for 5 minutes, frequently stirring to thicken it. Serve the curry with or over hot cooked grains, quinoa or noodles of your choice.

This curry is also a good accompaniment to chicken, lamb and shrimp.

Gluten-Free Japanese Curry
In Jefferson Adams’ post on Celiac.com, he stated that he found a bar-form S & B instant curry mix (it’s a sweet curry roux), called “Curry No Ohji-sama” (prince of curry or curry prince?) and packaged in a cartoony red box, at Nijiya Market in the San Fransciso on the same block as the Japantown mall. This sweet curry includes cornstarch and white sorghum as the thickeners and is gluten-free. I also read in the Celiac.com forum that the blue-box Curry No Ohji-sama is not gluten-free, but I looked at the ingredients on the box in person and found it also contains sorghum flour instead of wheat flour and is therefore gluten-free. If you use these are sweet curries, you may want to add more Japanese curry powder and gluten-free or wheat-free tamari soy sauce, like Mr. Adams did. Apparently, wheat allergies are also becoming a hot topic in Japan, just like it is here, so some food companies are starting to make gluten-free products. Instead you can always just use the S & B mixed curry seasonings to make your own gluten-free sauce recipe, like Russ Crandall did over at The Domestic Man.

Here’s a commercial for Curry No Ohji-sama for your viewing pleasure. Apparently S & B has been making sweet curry roux for kids since 1966. It’s nice to see that they are starting to accommodate for children with allergies and digestive issues.

Watching the commercial did make me wonder what the other sweet curry at at he end of the commercial is that features the fairy and the princess. I also wonder if S & B even makes it anymore. Does anyone know what it is? Do you have a favorite kind of curry? If so, which kind do you like best? What kind of seed or grain do you prefer as a side with your curries?