Karē Pot Pie | Recipe
Japanese take on American Chicken Pot Pie
I feel like a majority of people check this page for recipe, so I will post the recipe first. My inspiration section will be at the bottom of this page for those who want to read about it. Let me know if you like this format or the old format better.
Here is the link to printable recipe. Do you like the recipe format? I figure might as well make it cute and unique ;)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp of olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 6 Golden Yukon potatoes or 2 large russet potatoes (~1 ½ cup of chopped potatoes)
- 1 large medium size carrot
- 1 lb of beef stew beef
- 1 pkg of Golden Curry Sauce Mix (See Tips and Tricks section for more details)
- 1 cup of frozen peas
Directions
Prep all of the vegetables. Diced onion, potatoes, and carrot into cubes. Cut beef into bite size cubes.
Pat beef cubes dried and set a medium size pot over medium-high to high heat. Once the pot is hot, add oil and beef. Season with black pepper and salts. Let the meat sears before flipping it over, which takes about 3–5 minutes. Flip the beef over after a couple minutes and sear the other side. The goal is to get a good sear on the beef cubes. Avoid crowding the pot to get even sear on each beef cubes. Here is a quick guide on how to perfect the meat searing process.
Add onion and stir until translucent and fragrance.
Add potatoes and cook for 1–2 minutes until the potatoes are lightly golden around the edges.
Add 2 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once boil, lowers the heat to low and add in the carrot. Simmer until potato is translucent and cooked.
Using a thin mesh or ladle and skim off the impurities that float to the top. Check the Tips and Tricks section for hint on how to skip this step.
Add in the curry mix. Stir constantly until all curry mix pieces is fully dissolved. Add in the peas, turn off the heat and set it aside.
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepped the pie dough. Roll out and cut to about ½ ” wider than the size ramekin of choice and ¼” thick.
Into each ramekin, add the curry and fill up to ¾ full. Do not overfill the ramekin.
Place the pre-cut pie dough over and cover the ramekin. Seal the dough around the ramekin edge. Using a sharp fork/knife make a tiny slice in the center of each pot pie.
Bake at 350F for about 40–45 minutes or until the pie dough is fully cooked and golden brown. After 40–45 minutes, removed from oven and let it cool for at least 10 minutes before digging in. Do not skip this or there will be a burned tongue and mouth.
Tips and Tricks
- Why beef and not any other type of meat? The beef make the broth super tasty in this recipe. If using chicken or turkey, substitute with chicken/veggie stock for water.
- Don’t feel like peeling and chopping the carrot? Substitute it with the frozen mix carrot and peas package. Just add 2 cups worth right before turning off the heat. Feel free to use any type of vegetables too as well.
- Golden Sauce Curry Mix comes in 3 different levels of hotness: mild, medium, and hot. If you don’t like it too spicy, mix half the medium heat with the hot. For the non spicy people, just get the mild one. Keep in mind, the level of spicy is not very accurate. I don’t eat spicy food, but can definitely handle this sauce mix spicy level. This brand is sold at Wal-Mart/Target and a majority of American grocery stores.
- Yes you can use any curry mix of your choice. It doesn’t have to be the Golden brand. Just make sure to follow the pkg. instruction on how much water to add. Make sure to dilute it down to avoid super salty and thick pot pie. This is the reason why this recipe call for 3 cups of water instead of 2 ½ cups of water.
- Why is the frozen peas added at the end? This is because when baked for 40–45 minutes, the peas will be cooked as well so no need to double cooked the peas. The goal is to avoid having mushy peas.
- Can’t find pie dough/crust? Use puff pastry. Yes, the puff pastry is super tasty in this recipe. I prefer using puff pastry because it is more flaky than the pie crust. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find pre-made puff pastry at my local store.
- Avoid rolling the pie dough out too thin and over filling the ramekin. When they are too thin, it won’t have a nice flaky layers and will ripped during baking process. As shown in the picture above, I rolled my pie dough out too thin, it started ripping while baking. Overfilling the ramekin will make the pie crust a little mushy. This is because the pie dough absorbs the curry as it bubbles inside the ramekin.
Inspiration
This Japanese curry recipe (the curry itself) was passed down from Mr. RR’s grandma. From him, I learned how to master this recipe. Back when we were in college, this is one of the common dish we ate especially during winter. We made so much of it that we always had leftovers for lunch the next day.
While searching for a Vietnamese beef stew recipe, I came upon a recipe posted by TheSpicesOfLife blog, in which she converted the leftover into a pot pie for her kids. Her recipe was my inspiration for this recipe. I was hooked after my first attempt and have to share it.
I would consider this curry pot pie a comfort food. It always bring me joy whenever I made this dish because I know how many good memories it bring each time. This dish not only bring back good memories for Mr. RR, but also reminded me of our romantic time cooking together. ❤ Hopefully it will do the same for you. What is your comfort dish?
