Japanese style tempeh dry curry

Healthy Japanese style dry curry with chopped tempeh instead of meat. It's an easy and simple recipe even if you are not familiar with tempeh.

Tempeh is fermented soybeans. It has a firm texture and doesn't lose its shape like tofu, so it's a great meat substitute for vegan/vegetarian.

Dry curry is a type of curry that originated in Japan. It doesn't need to simmer in a soup so cooking time is shorter than regular curry.

Recommend this recipe for
• Someone who love healthy Japanese recipe
• Someone who wants to learn how to cook tempeh
• Someone who look for easy curry recipe

Ok, let me introduce you to how to make this healthy and easy Japanese dry curry with tempeh. Let's get started!

Jump to:

• About this recipe
• What is dry curry
• What is tempeh
• 📋 Ingredients
• 🔪Instructions
• Serve with Japanese steamed rice
• Thanks for Stopping By
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

About this recipe

• No meat, vegan recipe
• Japanese-style dry curry
• Easy and quick

What is dry curry

Dry curry is the Japanese original menu, and it refers to all curries with low water content. Even it includes curry-flavored fried rice.

It's similar to India's keema curry made with minced meat, but dry curry has no specific rules for ingredients.

Minced meat dry curry, vegetable dry curry, beans dry curry... you can choose any ingredients you like.

What is tempeh

Tempeh is an Indonesian fermented food made by fermenting boiled soybeans. We often compare to natto as it is also fermented soybeans, but tempeh is more versatile, and not sticky like natto nor has a strong smell.

Since it's a soybean product, it's so nutritious such as rich in high-quality protein, vitamin B, dietary fiber, and more.

It is typically sold in the form of a plate-like the picture above (this one is 500g/17cmx17cm). The soybeans are covered with white mycelium, holding the beans together, so even if you cut them into thin slices, they will not fall apart.

It has a firm texture, and the taste is light. It doesn't have much smell, but some people don't like the smell, so in that case, it is good to cook with garlic or ginger.

How to eat tempeh in Japanese way

You can enjoy tempeh in various ways such as bake, stir fry, deep fry, and so on.

Since the taste is light, it's tastier to coat with flour or potato starch and toss with seasoning, or marinade before cooking.

Tempeh Japanese recipes

• Marinated tempeh syogayaki
• Tempeh karaage
• Tempeh vegetable stir fry
• Tempeh tempura
• Tempeh oyakodon(egg and rice bowl)
• Tempeh teriyaki
• Fried tempeh

*I will create these recipes sometime soon.

Where to buy in Japan

If you live in Japan and look for a place to buy tempeh, I can give you my recommendation.

You might find a small package(such as 100g) in the tofu or natto area but if you want to buy a larger size, the online store is the best.

My recommendation: Motai Tempeh in Nagano

They use Japanese soybeans, and it has a rich soybean flavor and are tasty. The service is smooth and nice, so I've been buying from them for a long time.

They sell 2 sizes, 100g, and 500g. In addition to soybeans, they also sell tempeh made from black beans and chickpeas. It's shipped frozen, and the expiration date is one year.

I always buy Tempeh 500g. The shipping is a little expensive so I buy in bulk like 3kg at one time and keep them in the freezer.

If you are interested, please check Motai tempeh's site. They also sell on Amazon.

📋 Ingredients

Here are the ingredients (amounts are in the recipe card below).

• Tempeh
• Vegetables: Ginger, garlic, onion, and carrot
• Seasoning: Ketchup, soy sauce, curry powder, and salt

🔪Instructions

Ok, let me walk you through the steps. You can also watch this video.

1. Mince ingredients: Mince a ginger, garlic, onion, carrot, and tempeh. Use food processor for carrot, onion, and tempeh so that you can save a lot of time.
2. Stir fry ginger and garlic: Warm a frying pan, pour some olive oil, and stir fry minced garlic and ginger over low heat.
3. Stir fry onion and carrot: Add onion and carrot then stir fry until tender.
4. Stir fry tempeh: Add tempeh and stir fry. You can stir fry the tempeh lightly as it can be eaten raw.
5. Season: Blend all the seasoning, pour over, and mix until the color spread evenly.

As soon as you add the tempeh, it will be completed, so fry the onions and carrots until they are tender enough so that they don't have a hard texture.

Store in the fridge, and it will last for 3 days.

Serve with Japanese steamed rice

In Japan, curry is always served with Japanese steamed rice. This is the best way to eat! Serve with a fresh vegetable salad and you have a healthy lunch!

Other ways to eat

This curry goes well with thick fat udon noodles, as well as boiled potatoes.

• Curry udon noodles: Blend it with dashi (soup stock), and pour over warm or cold udon noodles
• Curried potato salad: Mix tempeh curry and mashed potato, and season with mayo, and salt and pepper

Thanks for Stopping By

It's a super easy curry recipe. If you love curry, Japanese taste, and tempeh, you gotta try this!

I hope you will love this recipe:)

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog♡ If you’ve tried this recipe(or any other recipe on the blog), please give it a star rating below!

Also, feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I love hearing from you!

Chef JA Cooks is a Japanese food blog that shares simple and healthy Japanese home cooking recipes include vegan and vegetarian. From traditional Japanese recipes to modern recipes with step-by-step instructions.

More Tempeh Recipes You Might Like

• Marinated tempeh shogayaki
• Tempeh karaage
• Tempeh teriyaki

📖 Recipe