Tondemo Skill – 180 – Japanese Comfort Food

Chapter 180: Japanese Comfort Food

 

 Translated by Zzonkedd

 Edited by Gumihou

 Please read this at kitchennovel dot com

 

First, a special shoutout to Myst for being our very first Patreon member for our Japanese Lightnovel Translations ^^ ~

Also,

We have just revamped the Patreon tiers. The buy 1 free 1 bargain is still ongoing ~

$3 for 1+1

$5 for 2+2

$10 for 3+3

For every one Tondemo Skill chapter you get a free Okonomiyaki chapter ~

Check it out at the end of this chapter ~

 

 

 

Hu~m, having a large kitchen is really great.

Ah, it seems a pity, but I would be making commoner’s food in this high-end kitchen.

That’s right, on the menu today was Curry. It is no exaggeration to say that this dish is one of the most beloved dishes in the whole of Japan.

Naturally, I, as a pure-blooded commoner Japanese, loved it.

No, I should say that ever since I arrived in this other world, I’ve been wanting to eat it. I made a curry flavoured Tandoori chicken once, but curry flavoured was completely different from the true curry.

I love curry so much that I do not discriminate them. I’ve eaten from speciality Japanese curry restaurants, authentic Indian restaurants and fast-food chains. The curries were all different, but they were all delicious, fragrant and full of flavour.

However, the ultimate winner had to be the Homemade Curry.

I suppose it was the taste of home that all Japanese people seek, the curry that mum makes.

That’s right, I will be making my usual Homemade Curry today, and yes, I’ve been missing home, alright?

Anyway, let’s order all the necessary ingredients from [Net Super].

Let’s see. I already have potatoes and onions, so I’ll need to get carrots and a few boxes of curry roux. Of course, I’ll be getting two types of roux.

I’ve always made the practice of mixing two different types of roux when making curry. I don’t always use the same boxes of roux, but I would want to mix two different types.

I felt that it made the curry taste richer somehow.

Just disregard it as a little quirk of mine.

It was easy to decide on the first type of roux. The long-standing favourite of the masses, Mild Curry Roux made with apples and honey.

In fact, my parents favour this particular type of roux as well, so it’s kind of like an inheritance thing.

I’ve tried using different brands and types of curry roux of course, but somehow I always come back to this one.

The second box of roux was something of a wild card, and it depended a lot on my mood. Sometimes I’d be really adventurous and try out a new brand or weird combination ingredients just for fun.

For today… let’s see.

Alright, let’s go with Company G’s Premium Curry Roux.

Since it has a good rich flavour, it’s often my second go-to roux for my home-made curry.

Moreover, I have to take into consideration Fer and the others and picked out the less spicy options. That was when something else caught my eye.

“Ah, they have this too. I’ve made it before and it’s pretty easy, more importantly, it is very delicious…”

While looking through the column for curry roux, I found that they even have the Dry Keema Curry Roux. It’s the curry that’s famous for the number of spices it utilizes.

I’ve made it in the past, and it’s pretty easy since all I had to do was chop up all the meat and vegetables and add in the roux later since all the measuring, grinding of spices et cetera had all been done by the manufacturer.

This curry goes very well with rice, and it’s also very delicious with bread.

I really must make it again one of these days.

You know what? Let’s make it now.

The last time I made this. I had followed the instructions written at the back of the roux box. The basic ingredients for this particular curry included minced meat, onions, tomatoes, and carrots, most of which I already have.

I checked my [Item Box] again and made sure I had everything I needed in my shopping cart before checking out.

Alright, let’s do this.

First, let’s decide on the meat.

For the Homemade Curry, I settled on finely sliced Orc meat. As for the Keema Curry, hum, a mixture of minced Bloody Horn Bull and Orc meat would do

I sliced up a large portion of good Orc meat and set it aside. Next, I put some lean and fat meat of Bloody Horn Bull and Orc through the mincer. I always like to mince up cheap cuts of meat with uneven fat and lean ratios and use the better cuts of meat for dishes that required finely sliced meats.

Naturally, I prepared a lot of meat for both curries since my companions loved meat.

Speaking of my companions, let’s get started on the mild Homemade Curry.

First, I peeled the skins off the potatoes and carrots and cut up all the potatoes into bite-size pieces. The carrots were cut into quarter slices because they were a little firmer than potatoes. Then, I halved the onions and sliced them longwise.

In a lightly oiled pan, I stir-fried the onions until slightly transparent before adding the Orc meat to stir fry until the fat melted out, because of Fer and the rest, I had added a lot more meat than usual.

Once the meat had browned in places, I added the potatoes as well as carrots and stirred them around until they had absorbed the flavours of the pork. Finally, I added just enough water to barely submerge the ingredients and let it come to a boil over a strong fire, occasionally skimming the scum off the top and discarding it.

When the curry came to a boil, I lowered the fire and let it simmer over a gentle blaze to give the potatoes and carrots time to soften.

Always add the roux last once the vegetables have softened but weren’t breaking up. When the time was right, I turned off the fire and dropped in the roux cubes into the soup and let it slowly melt with the remaining heat.

Once the roux had melted, I restart the fire and let the simmer over low heat to let it thickened.

“Hu~m, smells good. I wonder why curry always smells so appetizing?”

I could eat it right away with rice. Ahh, curry on rice, I want to eat it now, but I can’t, patience, patience.

There’s still the Dry Keema Curry to make.

“What’s that odd smell?”

“You’re right, I’ve never smelled anything like it before.”

“Ah, Sui knows this smell. Sui has smelled it before.”

Fer, Dora and Sui had followed their noses into the kitchen. As expected, this is the power of curry.

Still, I’m surprised that Sui remembered this scent. She must have remembered it from the time I made curry powder-covered tandoori chicken.

“We’re having curry today. It’s something that’s very popular back in my hometown.”

“Fumu, so, is it delicious?”

“I think it’s delicious, but since Fer and everyone is eating it for the first time, just try a little bit first. If you don’t like it, I’ll make some grilled meat for you.”

The last time I made tandoori chicken, they all ate it without complaint, but this was real curry. Well, real Japanese curry which is actually not at all spicy, but some people still can’t take the spices.

That’s right, I’m kind of curious how they would react to the curry spices.

“It smells odd, but it’s not a bad kind of smell. I guess I can try some.”

“Ou! I’m kind of excited to eat something for the first time.”

“Sui will eat as well ~”

Looks like everyone was willing to try it at least.

I wanted to make Dry Keema Curry as well, but I guess this is fine?

Rice was piled onto plates and I loaded it down with my Homemade Curry.

“Here you go.”

Fer, Dora-chan and Sui launched themselves forward and began to eat.

“Mu, it’s a little spicy… but not bad at all.” Said Fer with his mouth covered in brown curry sauce.

“Ooh, it’s certainly spicy but good. I like this.”

Unexpectedly, Dora-chan seemed to like it as well, his mouth was also covered in brown sauce.

“It’s spicy, but Sui can still handle it ~ There are lots of different smells and taste inside the sauce. Sui likes it ~”

I’ve tried to make it mild, worried the spices in the curry would disagree with them, but it looked like Sui was alright with it.

I had been worried that a dish like curry that utilizes a lot of different spices might not be acceptable to beings from a different world, but it looked like I might have overthought things a bit.

This means I can continue to eat curry, woohoo!

Anyway, since I have already prepared everything for the Dry Keema Curry, let’s make it while the others were busy eating.

First, finely chop the onions, tomatoes and carrots.

Next, I stir-fried the onions in a well-oiled frying pan. When the onions became translucent, it was time to add the carrots. Once the carrots have softened a little, I stirred the minced meat in.

I have to keep all the ingredients moving in the pan, making sure to brown the meat, but not burn the carrots or onions. When the minced meat looked more like brown crumbs, it was time to add the chopped tomatoes. I used the flat side of my spatula to crush the tomatoes as I continued to stir-fry.

Then, once the ingredients came together, I turned off the fire and added the Dry Keema Roux. [1] Normally, boxed curry roux comes in blocks that looked a lot like chocolate squares, but the Dry Keema Roux is different. It comes in seasoning packets and looked like brown instant soup powder.

I mixed the instant soup powder like roux with the other ingredients and turned the heat up again, keeping it low and slow, stirring until the tomato juices had mostly evaporated. I had to keep stirring to not burn the dry curry.

“Ooh~ this Dry Keema Curry looks good too.”

“Nu, is that a new thing? Give it over.”

“I want some too.”

“Sui, too~”

While I’d been making the Dry Keema Curry, I had already given two of them another refill. I thought we could eat this one for our next meal, but…

I piled on plenty of rice on their plate and topped it up with lots of curry… oh right, I should add those to make this even more delicious.

I quickly bought some eggs from [Net Super].

Crack, crack, I split the raw eggs and dropped the yolk right in the middle of the beds of curry. Then, with a pair of chopsticks, I stabbed the yolk and mixed it into the curry before serving them up.

“Here you go.”

Everyone started eating.

“Ohh, this one is much spicier than the other one, but the silky egg yolk gives it a more interesting texture and reduces the heat. Delicious, I like this one better.”

Looks like Fer prefered the Dry Keema Curry. Serving it with eggs was a good idea.

“Yup, yup, it’s spicier than the other one, but the egg balances it out so it doesn’t feel as spicy. This one is delicious too, I love them both!”

Another good review from Dora-chan.

“It’s okay because of the egg, but it’s a bit too spicy for Sui.”

As expected, Sui was more sensitive to spicy flavours.

Well, this was a medium spicy curry after all.

Maybe, if I add grated apples into the curry, Sui might find it easier to eat. Yes, let’s try making it apples next time.

Now that my companions have eaten, it’s now time for me to eat too. Of course, I must try my Homemade Curry first.

In a much smaller plate, I lovingly scooped on the fluffy white rice and ladled on the fragrant curry.

Ah, I almost forgot something. Yes, the very important Fukujinzuke [2] or red pickles to accompany my curry.

Now it’s perfect.

I took my first bite, “Oohh, this is it, this is the taste!”

I usually prefer medium spicy curry, but mild curries were delicious too. Anything that goes well with rice was good for me.

This rich flavour matches very well with rice. With the palate-cleansing Fukujinzuke to cleanse my tongue, I could just eat and eat and eat.

I made short work of my plate of Homemade Curry and attacked the Dry Keema Curry next. Well, before that-

“Seconds, I want the one with the egg on it.”

“Sui wants seconds too ~ Sui wants the syrupy one ~”

“Burp, I’m done. I think I ate too much.”

Yes, yes, one Dry Keema Curry with egg yolk for Fer and one Homemade Curry for Sui. Dora-chan seemed to have had enough after one Homemade and one Keema Curry.

While Fer and Sui were occupied with their ‘seconds’, I took my time with the Dry Keema Curry.

This is it, this is it… ooohh, this is also delicious.

Having the egg yolk on top hits all the right spots. It really balances out the spiciness and gave it a richer and more mellow flavour.

I used raw egg today, but it also goes well with soft-boiled eggs.

Yes, yes, this is it, very delicious.

“Haa, I’m so glad I managed to eat that….”

After that, Fer and Sui had their last seconds, and that was the end of both Homemade Curry and Dry Keema Curry.

“I should have made some more.”

It certainly was a mistake to have reduced the amount thinking that my companions probably couldn’t take the spiciness… and I had been looking forward to a Dry Keema Curry Roll.

Oh, a Dry Keema Curry Roll with cheese on top would be awesome.

Ah! I should really have made more Dry Keema Curry.

 

[Gumihou: Shoot, I have no idea what Dry Keema Curry is but now I want some.]

 

[1] I add these details, because, why not?

 

[2] Fukujinzuke – Red pickles, could be made from anything, but its signature feature is the shockingly neon red colour

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/put-fukujinzuke-on-everything-or-just-curry-article

 

If you love my translations, do consider supporting me via Patreon or ko-fi ~