I though I had experienced the best that curry had to offer. Japanese curry is one of my favorite meals and it is hard to improve on something that is already so good. I was wrong. Curry bread is the ultimate way to experience curry!
Kare pan or Japanese curry bread is curry wrapped in bread and covered in panko bread crumbs. It is normally deep fried though it can be baked. Curry bread is a popular dish in Japan.
This was my first time making or eating curry bread. This was also only my second time deep frying. I was a bit worried about the deep frying but it turned out ok. Since this recipe uses a yeast based bread it requires some rising time. I am glad that I made this dish on a day off as it took a while.
The kare bread was amazing!! The golden brown crust was nice and light and crispy and the inside was soft and moist. I of course ate them while they were still warm. Each bite was a crisp, soft, warm, and tasty moment of utter enjoyment. A moment that disappeared all to quickly along with the all of the curry bread. I can not believe that simply placing the curry into crispy deep fried bread can make it so much better.
I ran out of curry before I had used all of the dough so I formed the extra dough into balls, fried them and rolled them in sugar and cinnamon. They made for a tasty desert for the curry bread meal.
So ends the week of curry. A very tasty week indeed!
Kare Pan (Curry Bread)
ingredients
- 1 teaspoon yeast
- 1/4 cup water (lukewarm)
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup leftover curry
- 1 egg (lightly beaten)
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
directions
- Mix the yeast and the warm water in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Mix in the flour, sugar, salt, butter and water and form a dough.
- Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise to double its size, about 60-90 minutes.
- Knock the dough down and knead for 2 minutes.
- Place the dough back into the bowl and let rise again.
- Knock the dough down and knead for 2 minutes.
- Cut the dough into 8 pieces and set aside.
- Mash the curry to form a paste.
- Mix the egg and milk in a bowl.
- Roll out one of the pieces of dough into a 6 inch circle and place a spoonful of the curry in the center.
- Brush some of the egg wash around the edge of half of the dough and fold it over and pinch the dough closed. Fold the pinch to one side.
- Repeat 11 & 12 until done.
- Dip the formed bread into the egg wash and then dip them into the panko bread crumbs to cover.
- Cover the bread with plastic and let rise while you heat the oil.
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Place the bread into the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, about 60-90 seconds per side.
- Place the cooked curry bread onto some paper towels to drain while it cools.
mmm, deep fried stuffed bread 🙂 I give you credit, I personally am terrified by deep frying at home … and I always feel so sad using all that oil! I’m glad it turned out so well 🙂
Wow! Amazing! Curry wrapped in fried dough? How could you go wrong?
That looks so delicious!! It looks nice and crispy on the outside!
Ahhh, 101 ways to use Kare…rejoice!
Hehehe, I love the idea of Curry week. I am now in the process of trying to convince Neen that we should try to locate some of this curry roux, and give it a try. I don’t know about a whole week, but maybe dinner and a few lunches!
Savory and sweet… very nice use of the dough! I’ve never made Japanese curry. I’ll have to try it soon.
I see your very into curries of late!! Good for you. Nothing like a good curry…
Kevin, this is great! What a creative dish! I wonder if you could make this with No-Knead bread dough too. If so, I’m in!
Kevin! I love the way u present and make use of leftovers. 😀 u are great! *clap* and those buns are lovely, i’m so gonna make japanese curry for Easter weekend :X
These look great Kevin; I would love to cook more Japanese food.
Ahhh so many amazing flavors…that looks very tasty!
This is such a fantastic idea! I think I might wimp out and bake mine rather than deep frying, but yours looks so gorgeous that I’m tempted…
Yum, I’m so glad I came across your blog! I myself love curry where the Grumpster doesn’t even like me cooking it in the house – he hates the smell. Oh well, sometimes he will just have to deal! 🙂
You are seriously a professional chef. Beautiful and tasty looking is all I can say. Thanks for sharing.
Very creative… I can’t believe the stuff you’re able to come up with!!
You are so making me wish I had one of those right now! I’m definitely printing this one out! 🙂
I’m all about fried bread.
I thought this was chicken cordon bleu, at first.
WOW! i am so making this! 🙂
this looks really, really good. i never really eat curry, but i don’t think you could go wrong with anything deep fried inside of bread!
the little dessert looks delicious too 🙂
OMG! Your pictures are so wonderful (I saw it over on Tastespotting as well!). You are making me want to put some of these together … just for me, no sharing! 😉
Hi Kevin, just wanted to tell you I made the sweet potato bread in your blog today. We’ll be eating it tomorrow. I just know it’s going to be delicious!
Really lovely bread, I told you I admire so??? looks really nice and yummy!!! Gloria
It has been a very tasty week at Closet Cooking. Thaks for the introduction to Japanese curry which I am going to have to try and seek out:D
These look so delicious!
kevin – i’m impressed with all the uses of curry that you’ve come up with 🙂 way to be super creative. also, the gyoza look great, awesome job with the wrappers. i spent a summer study in japan and i definitely miss the curry stand where you eat on bar stools.
Oh my goodness, these look and sound incredible… Such a brilliant idea! Your cinnamon dessert looks quite divine as well…
Way to go!
This looks delicious. Never heard of it before but i sooo love the idea. Thanks for opening my eyes to a new world of deliciousness!
curry bread too, wow! ALL YOUR FOOD LOOKS INCREDIBLE!!
Oh, wow! I love these deep fried bread pockets! I buy them from the 24-hour convenience store and they’ve kept me company throughout many a lonely hospital duty night. I’ve never had one with curry in it, though, which is a shame because I too am madly in love with Japanese curry! I’ve bookmarked this 🙂
That looked awesome! I usually buy the curry bread from the Japanese bakery over here.
It is amazing what you have been making with the Japanese curry.
These look so good! I love these sort of portable sandwich pockets.
These look FANTASTIC! I wish every week were curry week.
I love Curry Bread too! Did you make extra?
boy, those look inviting indeed Kevin! never used kare before, but this inspires me!!:)
kevin, you are coming up with such gems. i think you are having far too much fun in the kitchen. love your curry posts.
I am with the others….fried stuffed bread? Oh yeah! But even more…that dish! Want it! 🙂
Those look incredibly awesome!
looks SOO good! i kind of wish you would have photographed the process of creating such a delicious treat, but i’ll just have to make it myself. 😉
i think you are now the king of kare. 🙂
these look delicious! can’t wait to try… although i may opt to cheat and buy bread dough from the local bakery… 😉
Hey Kevin! Made some curry this week and it’s DELICIOUS. I really wanna try making this curry bread, and I’m wondering how hot you think the oil was when you made it… Any idea?
Thanks so much for your help and amazing recipes!
Anthony: I am not sure how hot the oil was. I played it by ear. I used some of the excess dough at first to test the oil and then I adjusted the temperature depending on how fast the bread was frying.
This looks like a Malaysian Curry Puff but in bread. This would be interesting to try ^_^
I made your kare recipe (first time I ever had curry, and I was so pleased to have done it–delicious!) in order to make these, and…wow. This is fantastic, even when you cheat like I did and used store-bought dough. The panko crumbs are just the thing for delightful crispness. I’ll be packing these in my bento (if I can manage to have some left over!).
Thanks so much for sharing your culinary gifts!
Hello! what kind of dough did you use?
I just returned from Japan where I discovered kare pan!! Every basement of the department stores and bakeries–I asked for kare pan!! It is all I wanted to eat while I was there!! I had never had it before and it became my new favorite food! I was having withdrawls when I came home!! I didn’t know how to make it, so I tried croissant dough. It wasn’t bad, but not kare pan at all! I finally thought to look it up on the computer and found your recipe!! I tell ya, my mouth started watering immediately!! I am going to try this tomorrow!! I know if I can get the recipe down, this will be a hit with my friends and family!! Thank you for sharing!!
This look so good. Do you know how it would work if we chose to bake instead of fry? I want to try this myself but had a bad experience with frying recently 🙂
tularip: I have not tried baking them but I have had luck baking things like tonkatsu or pork cutlets so it might work.
I made this today! It turned out great! I baked it instead of fried it since I don't like using a lot of oil. I baked it at 360°F for about 25 minutes. My family loved this and they don't usually like the things I make.
I hate to be a spelling nazi, but it's Karee (カレー）。That extra line at the end makes the 'e' at the end two 'e's at the end.
Thanks so much for this, I was chatting with my girlfriend about my favourite foods of japan, and I was telling her that every morning I used to go to the 7-11 (of all places) and pick up a few of these and a litre of pocari sweat, she's tried the sweat, now to try the karee pan 🙂
Wow, these are amazing! I vegan-ified them, and they came out great!
I made this today. Mine weren't nearly as pretty as yours, but they were very good. Thanks for sharing =D
Oh I just searched for "Japanese curry bread" and your blog popped up! Nice! I will try this soon!
amazing…will try it myself, since curries are so often served at our table! Thanks for your great recipe and clear instructions! If you do not mind, I am including your blog into my blog roll!
Mm, I might have to make this! I saw it on Kuroshitsuji XD And it really looked good :3
Ever since I came across the term 'curry bread' in Black Butler (I know), I have been looking for a simple recipe for it that didn't involve using a bread maker. Deep-frying it sounds delicious!
This really looks delicious, but are there any pre-made dough substitutes available that I could use instead of making my own? That would really save me some time…something that I don't have a lot of.
I'm starting to drool looking at those curry bread. Creative dish!
In our country I think this is what we call Tempura!
Thanks for the post..
Small Business Loans
That looks so delicious.
I google imaged curry pan and your pictures were the best in displaying it in color.
Do you think I could use your pictures for my food blog?
http://odd-foods.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much for the recipe! I think it's the best thing I have ever made! Are the pans supposed to be really large though? When I was making them, they seemed huge! Plus, I felt as though I could have stuffed more than a tablespoon of curry in them. Thanks again, I'll have to try more of your recipes!
I definitely agree with Pauline's posted:
Bake at 360°F for about 25 minutes instead of frying.
Emily: Yes, baking also works well!
Who wouldn’t love this dish? Curry; good! Bread; good! Crisp, soft, warm, tasty… You made my mouth water! Please keep sharing such recipes!