I demo'd this recipe many, many moons ago at the Neal Blaisdell Center during the New Product Show. It was almost a disaster because the portable "toy" propane burner never brought the water to a boil to cook the dried udon - luckily (and with a litle foresight) I preboiled the udon so it simply had to be re-warmed. I know it's a lot easier using the supermarket variety of Japanese curry "bricks" but they simply are curry flavored lard or tallow based roux. In my 20s and 30s, the plasticity of my arterial walls rebounded against such culinary insults, now it'll stick like crazy glue. Don't want that infarct just yet (or ever if possible) since there are still so many wines to drink and foods to eat! I start with the fresh veggie mis en place of julienne carrots and onions julienne with the grain (so they don't simply melt in the curry). About 3 to 4 carrots and 1 large onion. I didn't do it this time but you can also finely mince a clove or two of garlic and roughly dice 1 or 2 sweet onions to caramelize as the first step in cooking.
I also soaked a very large handful of sliced dried shiitake mushrooms:
And julienne 2 cans of takenoko shoots:
I usually use dried udon and boil but since this weekend was a little more hectic, I simply purchased 4 packages of cooked udon with sauce packet (I saved the dashi for later use). The chicken was also lazy-man's chicken since it was the stir fry pre-sliced chicken (it was actually cheaper than whole chicken breast and judging by the color, my pre-cut package also was breast) package. I also grated 1 medium apple and 1 small banana and set aside. You'll also want to set aside some ketchup (we purchase Heinz so it's ketchup not catsup), tonkatsu sauce, shoyu, curry powder, salt, black pepper and 1 can of chicken broth.
If you are going the caramelized onion route, cook them over medium high heat with 1 or 2 tbsp of oil, if not cook the chicken in 1 tbsp oil with a couple tsp of curry powder and fresh cracked black pepper until the chicken isn't pink anymore. Add the veggies, shiitake and takenoko and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the chicken broth, grated fruits, 2 to 3 heaping tbsp of curry powder, 2 heaping tbsp of ketchup, 1 heaping tbsp of tonkatsu sauce, a tbsp of shoyu and salt to taste. Add water until the liquid level is just below the top of the solids. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until the carrots have softened and chicken very tender. I thicken my curry with 2 tbsp of arrowroot (usually used to thicken desserts) mixed with several splashes of sweet vermouth - you can also thicken with cornstarch or a roux (just try to avoid using lard or tallow as your fat or you simply could have used the supermarket curry "brick"). If you want to present the meal ala restaurant style, add the udon to bowls then pour the curry over the udon.
If presentation doesn't matter, add the udon to the curry mixture, mix then serve as is:
Gochisosama!
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