Eggplant Curry Rice
なすのカレーライス
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese preschool lunch menu
Curry rice is one of the most requested dishes in Japanese school lunch, and this version adds eggplant to the usual pork, carrot, onion, and potato. The eggplant turns soft and silky as it simmers and soaks up the curry, so even children who are unsure about it on its own tend to eat it happily here. Instead of a store-bought roux block, the roux is made from scratch with butter, flour, and curry powder, which keeps the flavor gentle and lets you control the salt. A little skim milk stirred in at the end rounds out the spice into something mellow and comforting.
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Ingredients
Amounts for 1 child (1 serving). An adult counts as 2 servings.
One serving here is 1.5× the portion served to a child in a Japanese preschool, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 75 griceJapanese short-grain white rice (japonica), which cooks up soft and slightly sticky. The amount listed is for uncooked rice. Substitute: Sushi rice, or another short-grain or medium-grain rice such as Calrose.
- 37.5 gpork leg (lean pork)
- 42 geggplant
- 24 gcarrot
- 39 gonion
- 58.5 gpotato
- 15 gflour
Seasonings
- 1.5 gvegetable oil
- 13.5 gunsalted butter
- 0.5 gcurry powder
- 195 gwater
- 0.5 gconsommé bouillon (granules or cube)Japanese-style Western soup stock powder or cubes, similar to chicken or vegetable bouillon. Substitute: Chicken or vegetable bouillon granules or a bouillon cube.
- 3 gketchup
- 4.5 gchuno sauce (Japanese medium-thick brown sauce)A sweet, tangy, fruit-and-vegetable-based brown sauce that sits between thin Worcestershire and thick tonkatsu sauce. Substitute: Tonkatsu sauce, or Worcestershire sauce mixed with a little ketchup.
- 0.8 gsalt
- 3 gskim milk powderMilk with the fat and water removed. Substitute: No skim milk powder? Leave it out and use milk in place of the water it is dissolved in, in the same amount (for example, 30 g skim milk powder + 130 g water becomes 130 g milk). Milk still contains milk, so this swap is not for a milk allergy.
- 22.5 gwater
About the Japanese ingredients in this recipe
- rice (米)
- Japanese short-grain white rice (japonica), which cooks up soft and slightly sticky. The amount listed is for uncooked rice. Substitute: Sushi rice, or another short-grain or medium-grain rice such as Calrose.
- consommé bouillon (granules or cube) (コンソメ)
- Japanese-style Western soup stock powder or cubes, similar to chicken or vegetable bouillon. Substitute: Chicken or vegetable bouillon granules or a bouillon cube.
- chuno sauce (Japanese medium-thick brown sauce) (中濃ソース)
- A sweet, tangy, fruit-and-vegetable-based brown sauce that sits between thin Worcestershire and thick tonkatsu sauce. Substitute: Tonkatsu sauce, or Worcestershire sauce mixed with a little ketchup.
- skim milk powder (スキムミルク)
- Milk with the fat and water removed. Substitute: No skim milk powder? Leave it out and use milk in place of the water it is dissolved in, in the same amount (for example, 30 g skim milk powder + 130 g water becomes 130 g milk). Milk still contains milk, so this swap is not for a milk allergy.
Directions
- 1
Cook the rice.
- 2
Cut the pork into 2 cm wide pieces. Peel the carrot, potato, and eggplant in alternating stripes and cut them into thick quarter-rounds. Halve the onion crosswise and cut it into thin slices.
- 3
Melt the butter in a heated frying pan, add the flour, and cook, stirring, until it is smooth and loose. Add the curry powder to make the curry roux.
- 4
Heat the oil in a large pot and sauté the carrot, onion, pork, eggplant, and potato, in that order. Add the water and simmer thoroughly, skimming off any scum as it rises.
- 5
When the vegetables from step 4 are tender, add the consommé, ketchup, chuno sauce, and salt, and simmer a little longer.
- 6
Turn off the heat. Add the skim milk powder dissolved in lukewarm water and the curry roux from step 3, and stir well until the curry thickens.
- 7
Spoon the rice into bowls and ladle the curry from step 6 over the top.
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 586.5 kcal | 1173 kcal | 586.5 kcal |
| Protein | 16 g | 32.1 g | 16 g |
| Fat | 19.4 g | 38.7 g | 19.4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 95.9 g | 191.7 g | 95.9 g |
| Salt equivalent | 1.4 g | 2.7 g | 1.4 g |
| Calcium | 72 mg | 144 mg | 72 mg |
| Iron | 1.7 mg | 3.3 mg | 1.7 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 586.5 kcal | 16 g | 19.4 g | 95.9 g | 1.4 g | 72 mg | 1.7 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 1173 kcal | 32.1 g | 38.7 g | 191.7 g | 2.7 g | 144 mg | 3.3 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese preschool portion); an adult serving is double. They were calculated by a licensed Japanese nutritionist using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. "Salt equivalent" is sodium × 2.54, the standard Japanese measure. Allergen flags cover egg, milk and wheat only and come from the nutritionist's records. Soy sauce and miso are made with wheat but are usually allowed on Japanese wheat-free school menus, so check with your doctor.
