Bento Kare Raisu Japanese Curry Rice. The name of the dish will without fail invoke shudders in my younger sister. Strong feelings akin to disgust... What terrible experience could she have gone through to have such an aversion to this dish? Well, once upon a time, a young secondary school student was sent off as an exchange student to Japan. While she enjoyed all types of Japanese food, having been there before with the family, she just could not stomach 'Kare Raisu' (Curry Rice) as it was NOTHING like the curries she was used to back home. She lived to tell the cautionary tale :
NEVER eat Kare Raisu if you can help it, if you can do so without insulting any Japanese hosts who ply you with it.
Fast forward to today... or at least early this year. One of my son's kindy teachers told me he ate curry at school lunch. I was startled, as my kids have hardly any tolerance for spicy food to date.(
Bad, bad Malaysian mother!
Fail!) Then she quickly explained that it was not
chilli hot as it was
Japanese curry to which I automatically
recoiled on the inside remembering my sister's experience. After that I was so intrigued that I had to buy a box of the stuff to try -
hey, anything to add to the list of foods that your kids will eat right?
Vermont Curry Sauce (MILD) mix - with a smidgen of honey & apple they say
Well, let me put on record that Japanese curry is quite delicious. My daughter, who is usually a small eater will put away 3 times her normal portion when having this for lunch. Can you imagine my delight when she asked for seconds and thirds... It smells like curry due to the usual spices used in the mix like coriander, turmeric, cumin and fennel but without the usual heat when you use the Mild mix. I'd say it may be good 'training wheels' for those wanting to initiate their kids to curry?
The directions are at the back of the box - very simple and straightforward - exactly like making a meat stew with usual onions, carrots and potatoes except that you 'break curry sauce mix into pieces and add to saucepan' towards the end. I think it's great to keep a box of mix in the pantry for when you've come to the bottom of the list of stuff to serve up.
Ah! Japanese attention to packaging details - the pack is divided into segments to help you break the sauce cube up easily
