Welcome to The Avocado’s weekly discussion of Japanese pop culture! One of the first things I wrote about when I took over this thread was my adventures in learning how to make Japanese curry. I’ve also written about making delicious curry udon! And today I’ll be writing about another curry dish: curry ramen! The first time I had this combo it was one of the instant noodles that I arrived in the Umai Crate that I was getting for a while. I had wanted to try this particular version of ramen ever since I watched Laid-Back Camp, but I’ve never seen it in a store here. I don’t know why, but it never occurred to me that I could just make it myself until I saw it featured in an episode of Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories. So a couple weeks ago, I decided to make a big batch of curry to be used in curry ramen and for leftovers.

I used this recipe as a reference, but I’ve made curry so many times now that I didn’t really need it. We didn’t have potatoes so I skipped those. And I added frozen corn and a hard boiled egg because I always add that to my curry udon, and it’s really good, definitely recommend. Instead of meat, I wanted to use tofu, which required a bit of experimentation because I’ve never tried that before. I often just leave out the meat entirely (if you don’t like tofu, roasted cauliflower is a great option — if you want meat, stew beef is my go-to but honestly any protein works). I started by sauteing two sliced onions in olive oil, and then I added the water and the curry cubes. I combined two boxes of curry: S&B Golden Curry (Hot) and Vermont Curry. This resulted in the perfect hint of spice with a touch of sweetness. Highly recommend. I also added some of the curry to the tofu (along with some onions) because I wanted the tofu to absorb some of those flavors while it was cooking. Meanwhile, I was also boiling the eggs. After the eggs were done, I added carrots to the curry, and I added more of the curry sauce to the tofu to continue soaking up those flavors. The final step is to prepare some instant ramen and add the frozen corn to the curry (adding the corn and carrots later in the process prevents them from overcooking and allows for a somewhat crunchy texture). I used about half of the liquid from the ramen (I just added more to the bowls if it seemed too thick) and added the curry and an egg.

And it was delicious! Plus, I was able to enjoy curry for days (with udon and with rice). I will definitely do this again, especially now that it’s getting colder where I live. What about you? Have you ever tried curry ramen? Have you made it?

And, as always…

What have you been watching/reading/playing/eating/listening to lately?

Happy Wednesday! 🙂