Japanese Beef Curry (Curry Rice or Kareh Raisu)

The Japanese have a group of foods called yohsoku which have their origins in European cuisine. This dish is one of them. This is unlike Indian curry as it is sweeter. Serve with rice.

Ingredients:

2 T oil
1 lb. stew meat (cubed)
1 T. butter
2 c. onions, sliced very thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c. crushed tomatoes
1 c. beef broth
1/2 t. ginger
1 bay leaf
1 star anise (or 1/4 t. anise seed)
2-3 T. garam masala (you can get this from Penzey's on-line)
3 sliced carrots
1 apple peeled, cored and chopped
3 potatoes (optional, I don't like potatoes with rice, but this will extend the recipe)

3 T butter
4 T flour
1-2 T oriental curry powder (S&B is available in Macomb, but it is hot)

Directions:

Heat oil in a heavy casserole or dutch oven. Add beef cubes and cook until browned, set aside. Turn heat down and add butter and onions. Cook onions until very soft and slightly brown. Add garlic and cook until garlic is soft. Pour in beef broth and turn up heat, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan. Add tomatoes, ginger, browned meat, bay leaf, anise, carrots, apple and potato. Bring to a boil then turn down heat and simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours until the beef is very tender.

In a frying pan, melt butter and add flour. Stir and cook until the butter and flour are well incorporated into a roux. Add curry powder and cook a few seconds longer to release the spices. Add a few ladlefuls of the stew to the roux, stirring very well, then add this to the stew. Increase heat and stir until thick and bubbly.

Serve over rice.