Curry Doria is Japanese rice gratin topped with flavorful curry meat sauce and cheese and baked into perfection in a casserole. It screams comfort food!
In Japan, we have a rice gratin dish called Doria (ドリア). What’s Doria? Surely it doesn’t sound like a Japanese word but it is a popular Japanese rice casserole.
Doria was invented in the 1930s by the Swiss chef, Saly Weil, who was the first master chef at Hotel New Grand in Yokohama, Japan. The first Doria was Seafood Doria, which was improvised by Weil for a guest who was sick. Since then, all variations of Doria have become popular Yoshoku (Japanese western food) dishes in Japan (source).
Doria Sauce
Doria has three components: steamed rice, the savory sauce, and the melted cheese on top. The savory sauce was originally Bechamel sauce (white sauce), but these days there are many sauce variations and this is where you can be creative.
I’ve shared the Doria recipe with the tomato-base sauce (Meat Doria recipe) before, so I’ve made today’s recipe with curry powder. However, it’s not spicy so children can also enjoy this dish.
When you make the sauce, make sure to season the sauce well, by making it a teeny bit on the salty side. The steamed rice dilutes the flavors of the sauce, so don’t worry about making it salty.
Interchangeable Dish with Pasta
By the way, if you prefer pasta instead of rice, you can use elbow (macaroni) or Fusilli pasta. Fusilli is a short spiral pasta with twisted surfaces that grabs hold of the sauce for more taste.
Growing up in Japan, Doria has always been one of my favorite comfort food. As a mom, I love a simple dish like this where you have grains, vegetables, proteins, and dairy in one dish. Plus, how could you resist the melted cheese on top? I especially love the crusty crispy cheese on the baking dish.
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Curry Doria (Rice Gratin)
Video
Ingredients
- ½ onion
- 1 rib celery
- 1 carrot
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 oz ground beef
- 6 oz ground pork
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp Japanese curry powder
- 1½ cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 Tbsp tonkatsu sauce (or make my Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce)
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (divided)
- ½ cup Mozzarella cheese (2 oz; or use another cheese like Gruyere or Parmesan)
- ½ cup Romano cheese (2 oz; or use another cheese like Gruyere or Parmesan)
- 2 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- parsley (chopped, for garnish)
For Cooking the Rice
- 3 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice (3 rice cooker cups (180 ml x 3 = 540 ml) yields roughly 5 servings (5¼ US cups); see how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, a pot over the stove, an Instant Pot, or a donabe)
- 600 ml water
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Start cooking 3 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice and 600 ml water in a rice cooker, a pot over the stove, an Instant Pot, or a donabe. You will also need 2 medium-size baking dishes or 1 large baking dish.
To Prepare and Cook the Ingredients
- Mince ½ onion, 1 rib celery, and 1 carrot into small pieces.
- Heat 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Crush (or mince) and add 2 cloves garlic and 1 bay leaf (if you tear it in half, the fragrance will come out faster).
- Sauté the minced onion and celery over medium high heat until they are almost translucent.
- Add the carrot and cook until tender.
- Add 6 oz ground beef and 6 oz ground pork and break it up, stirring occasionally. Cook until the meat is no longer pink.
- Season with Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Add 1 Tbsp Japanese curry powder and 1½ cups chicken or vegetable stock. If the liquid doesn’t cover the ingredients, you will need to add more broth or water.
- Cover with the lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover and skim off the foam, fat, scum off from the liquid. It’s important to get rid of them so that you can achieve a nice and clean soup. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add 2 Tbsp tonkatsu sauce, 2 Tbsp ketchup, and 1 Tbsp unsalted butter. The meat mixture should be a bit on the saltier side rather than a bland taste. You will be eating this dish with rice, so make sure it’s well seasoned. Cook and reduce the sauce until you see the bottom of the pan, about 10 minutes, and turn off the heat.
- Use the remaining 1 Tbsp unsalted butter to grease the sides and bottom of the baking dish(es). Place the steamed rice in the baking dish(es).
- Place the meat mixture (and sauce, if you like) on top of the rice. Then, sprinkle with ½ cup Mozzarella cheese and ½ cup Romano cheese. Finally, sprinkle 2 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) on top to add a crispy texture.
To Broil the Curry Doria
- Pre-heat the oven on broil for 5 minutes. Broil for 2–3 minutes until the cheese has melted and you see nice char on top. If you don’t have a broil setting, you can simply bake it until the top is golden brown. Everything is already cooked, so all you need to do is melt the cheese.
- Sprinkle fresh chopped parsley on top and serve immediately.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for a month.
Hi Nami, I’ve been making your doria for years and I love it! But I was reading the original recipe yesterday (lost my recipe notebook) and realised I’ve been using double the meat all along. Is it really only 1/2 a pound? Because 3 rice cooker cups for me is 480g uncooked. I just want to double check if I’ve been making the doria wrong all this time! Thank you 🙂
Hi Nora! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I know where this meat comes from a Japanese grocery store, I think it’s the package that contains 6 oz beef and 6 oz pork. So the total amount is roughly 3/4 lbs. So a total of 1 lb meat is okay, too. I’ve updated this recipe. 🙂
[…] Curry Doria […]
I’ve made this dish 3x times in the past 3 months. Only modification I’ve made is that I’ve added boxed curry on top before it goes under the broiler (as per other recipes I’ve looked at online). My husband LOVES this and has claimed he would be happy to have this for lunch for the rest of his life. It also performs well in the freezer. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Samantha! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! I’m so happy to hear that you two enjoy the recipe (and I love the easy modification!). Thank you for writing! xoxo
[…] love doria so much that I’ve shared non-white sauce variations of my doria, Curry Doria and Meat Doria recipes on my blog. Throughout the years, I received a lot of requests for the […]
[…] 10. Curry Doria […]
[…] Doria Recipes: Curry Doria, Meat […]
Hi Nami,
thanks for your recipe! I did it today for lunch, It’s very ” Oishii”
Hi Stefania! Yay!!! I’m really happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying it and for your kind feedback. xo Arigato!
Yummy looking, going to try to make it. Never had curry with cheese. Love your site, and recipes, so easy.
Hi Carol! Yeah, that’s true, I don’t see curry + cheese combination in Indian curry or Thai curry…. but somehow Japanese curry + cheese works. Never thought of that before. 😀 This one is so delicious. I hope you will give it a try!
I didn’t like this recipe much. The rue is great. But after cooking the meat for so long it just tastes over cooked. I followed the recipe pretty well. I recently made the Wafu Hambagu which turned out amazing!! So when I decided to try this, I was kind of disappointed by the end result.
Hi Yuli! Thank you for your feedback! Was yours too dry and no sauce to cover? Since it’s all cooked, oven time can be shorten (which is why we use “broil”). Do you think it would be better if you just pour the curry over rice and skip the cheese +grill part? Sorry you got disappointed with this dish.
Hey Nami,
Made this now a few times and it turned out to be an all time favourite!
Colleagues, family and friends are all asking for the recipe haha.
I keep redirecting them to your website!
Thank you for all the inspiration.
XO
Hi Stephanie! I’m so happy to hear that! We love this dish too – was thinking of making it tomorrow. 🙂 Thank you for introducing this dish to your friends, family, and even colleagues! It means so much to me! Thank you!!! xoxo
Wow this looks amazing! What curry powder brand do you recommend to use?
Hi Carrisa! Thank you! I use curry powder that I got from an Indian grocery store (it was a big bag of curry powder, and I’m almost done with it… haha). If you’re not sure which brand is good, Japanese S & B brand has curry powder that’s popular in Japanese cooking. But for the price (and taste), curry powder you can get at an Indian store is pretty good. 😉
Thank you for your detailed answer! I’ll keep my eyes open next time I’m at the Japanses market or Indian market! 😀
This recipe is amazing! I made it tonight and it was a completely great experience. And here are my 5 reasons for giving it 5 stars:
1. The cheese and panko baked on top of the sauce had a very juicy and slightly crispy flavor to the food. I had the experience with noodle gratins (like Cannelloni and chicken lasagne) but not as unique as here.
2. This was the first time I tried rice gratin, and I was amazed about the outcome using rice instead of noodles for once.
3. I liked the scent immediately present at the start from the bay leaf in the kitchen. As each ingredient followed, the scent developed excitement for the dish while cooking and before it was even ready.
4. The spicing was mild and well “harmonized”. The Tonkatsu sauce and ketchup seasoned the sauce with the curry, bay leaf and broth in a indescribable way that made it stand out.
5. Overall, it is very delicious, very simple and straight-forward to make. Any person will love making this.
有り難うございます!
Hello Leo! I’m sorry for my late response (sorry I was traveling…). I’m really happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thank you for your kind and detailed feedback! It’s an interesting recipe which includes some Japanese (rice), Indian (curry), cheese (western) parts… but it works wonderful!! Glad you tried and enjoyed it! Thank you!!!
どうもありがとう!
Wow…can’t wait to try this one…major yummy! Good luck with new blog design…:)
Hi Lyn! I hope you like this recipe! And thank you for your well wishes! I can’t wait to see the new design live! 🙂
Wow. This looks simple to prepare with easily found ingredients. I’m going to give it a go. Thanks for sharing, Nami.
Hi Tuty! I hope you enjoy this recipe! Thank you for checking my post! 🙂
Oh, that looks like comfort food, indeed! It’s a definite must try, especially with the curry flavor. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you Donna! We love curry flavor with everything… 🙂 Hope you give it a try and let me know what you think. xo