Summer Vegetable Curry Rice (Elementary School Portion)
夏野菜カレーライス
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese elementary school lunch menu
Curry rice is one of the best-loved dishes on Japanese school lunch menus, and this summer version fills the pot with eggplant and kabocha squash alongside the usual carrot, onion and potato. The roux is made from scratch with butter, flour and curry powder, so you control the spice level and keep it gentle enough for children. Kabocha adds a natural sweetness that rounds out the curry, and a little skim milk stirred in at the end gives the sauce a creamy finish while adding calcium.
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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 elementary school, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 82.5 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 gchicken thigh
- 15 gcarrot
- 25.5 gonion
- 18 gpotato
- 13.5 geggplant
- 18 gkabocha squashSweet, dense Japanese pumpkin with dark green skin and orange flesh. Substitute: Butternut squash or another sweet winter squash.
Seasonings
- 3.8 gvegetable oil
- 6.8 gunsalted butter
- 7.5 gflour
- 0.2 gcurry powder
- 150 mlwater
- 0.4 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.
- 2.7 gketchup
- 3.8 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.
- 0.6 gsalt
- 1.8 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.
- 13.5 mlwater (for the skim milk powder)
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.
- kabocha squash (かぼちゃ)
- Sweet, dense Japanese pumpkin with dark green skin and orange flesh. Substitute: Butternut squash or another sweet winter squash.
- 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
Cut the chicken into 1 to 2 cm pieces. Cut the carrot and potato into thick quarter-rounds, and halve the onion and slice it thinly. Peel the eggplant in alternating stripes and cut it into thick quarter-rounds; cut the kabocha, skin on, into 1.5 cm cubes.
- 2
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the flour and cook, stirring, until it turns loose and smooth, then add the curry powder to make the curry roux.
- 3
Heat the oil in a large pot and sauté the carrot, onion, chicken, eggplant and potato, in that order. Add the water and simmer thoroughly, skimming off any scum. Once the vegetables are tender, add the kabocha, consommé, ketchup, chuno sauce and salt, and continue simmering, taking care not to let the kabocha fall apart.
- 4
Turn off the heat, add the skim milk powder dissolved in lukewarm water and the curry roux from step 2, then return the pot to low heat and stir until everything is well blended. Serve over cooked rice.
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 519 kcal | 1038 kcal | 519 kcal |
| Protein | 13.8 g | 27.6 g | 13.8 g |
| Fat | 15.6 g | 31.2 g | 15.6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 84 g | 168 g | 84 g |
| Fiber | 4.2 g | 8.4 g | 4.2 g |
| Salt equivalent | 1.2 g | 2.4 g | 1.2 g |
| Calcium | 49.5 mg | 99 mg | 49.5 mg |
| Iron | 1 mg | 2.1 mg | 1 mg |
| Potassium | 516 mg | 1032 mg | 516 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Fiber | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | Potassium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 519 kcal | 13.8 g | 15.6 g | 84 g | 4.2 g | 1.2 g | 49.5 mg | 1 mg | 516 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 1038 kcal | 27.6 g | 31.2 g | 168 g | 8.4 g | 2.4 g | 99 mg | 2.1 mg | 1032 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese elementary-school 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.
