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Originated in Sapporo, Hokkaido, a northernmost island of Japan, Soup Curry is a light curry flavored soup served with fall-off-the-bone chicken and colorful vegetables that are flash fried to give the vibrant colors. It’s relatively a new addition to the popular Japanese curry scene.
Most notably known as the birthplace of the oldest beer in Japan, Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, is also a food lovers paradise. You can find incredibly fresh seafood, seasonal vegetables from local farms and high-quality dairy products, all of which contribute to its thriving food scene.
Aside from the famous soft-serve ice cream, snow crab, and jingisu kan (barbecue-style mutton dish), another local specialty that any visitors to the snowy city must try is Soup Curry (スープカレー). Served piping hot and filled with nutritious ingredients and flavorful spices, this amazing curry dish is one of the best cure-alls on a cold, snowy day, or any day when your curry craving hits.
Watch How to Make Soup Curry
Originated in Sapporo, Hokkaido, a northernmost island of Japan, Soup Curry is a light curry flavored soup served with tender chicken and colorful vegetables.
What is Soup Curry?
The original soup curry was firstly created by a cafe in Sapporo in the early 70’s. Inspired by a Chinese/Korean medicinal soup and curry from Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India, it was a clever adaptation of all these different influences with local elements in mind. By 2000’s, more specialty shops started popping up everywhere in Sapporo and soup curry became Sapporo’s new signature dish.
The typical soup curry consists of the following: a light curry flavored soup, chicken leg, and non-battered deep-fried vegetables (“suage”-style, 素揚げ) such as eggplants, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, okra, and kabocha squash. Unlike the typical Japanese curry, steamed rice is always served separately. You scoop up the rice and then dip into the soup curry to enjoy together. When you’re almost done with the rice, you transfer the remaining rice into the soup curry and enjoy the last bits together.
With so much vibrancy and comfort that comes with the curry, it is no wonder the locals go wild about it. There’s no better way to keep you through the long winter nights with this restorative dish.
5 Interesting Features of Soup Curry
1. Soupy
As the name suggests, soup curry is soupy – it’s thin and watery, not thick like the regular Japanese curry.
2. Layers of spices
When Japanese make curry, we rely on the store-bought curry roux like this. However, for soup curry, you add more spices like curry powder, garam masala, basil, etc. The fun part of this recipe is you can create your own spice blend for the soup curry and easily adjust to your own likings. My friend who helped me create this recipe uses honey and mango chutney. My kids and I love these additions in our soup curry as well.
3. Colorful and Chunky Ingredients
Soup curry has very colorful and chunkier vegetables as you don’t cook them in the curry with meat and stock. Instead, vegetables are deep fried without batter (Japanese “su-age” technique) and served on top of the curry at the end. More about “su-age” technique later.
4. Varying Textures
You get to enjoy fall-off-the-bone chicken, tender carrots, and crisp deep-fried vegetables all in one bowl. The varying textures add a distinctive presentation and enjoyment to the curry dish.
5. Rice is Served Separately
Unlike a typical Japanese curry, steamed rice is served in a separate bowl or a plate.
What is Su-age (素揚げ)?
Su-age is basically flash fry without coating any flour or batter. Su means natural or uncoated in this case and age (pronounce a-geh) means deep frying. Cooking time varies from 30 seconds (bell peppers) to 3 minutes (potatoes).
This traditional Japanese cooking technique is used to preserve or intensify ingredients’ original flavors, vibrant colors, and shapes. I have used this technique in recipes like Eggplant Agebitashi and Sweet and Sour Chicken.
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I’ve partnered with Cuckoo Electronics America today to create this soup curry recipe using their brand new Cuckoo Multi Cooker, ICOOK Q5 PREMIUM, and I’m giving away THREE (3) Cuckoo Multi Cooker ICOOK Q5 PREMIUM to JOC readers (US only). To enter the giveaway, please click here.
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Besides the beautiful design that you want to it put on your kitchen counter, here are 5 things I like about Cuckoo Multi Cooker ICOOK Q5 PREMIUM:
- Cuckoo is a multi-cooker (8 IN 1 MULTI COOKER), so you can make rice, yogurt, soup, steam, slow cook, pressure cook, brown food, and keep warm. All in one machine!
- Its inner pot has a non-stick coating (PFOA FREE), so you can make steamed rice with this cooker and NO single rice goes to waste (THANK YOU!).
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- This machine auto cleans! Yes, you heard me right; it cleans itself. No more issue with smelly pot and lid.
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If you’re using a pressure cooker, making the soup curry itself is a doable task. The flash-frying is where it takes a little longer time. You can choose to skip the deep-fried vegetables, but then again, who wants to miss out the best part of this delicious dish. So, if you’re going to make this Sapporo-signature soup curry, go ahead and indulge yourself. It’s totally worth the effort!
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Thank you to Cuckoo Electronics America for sponsoring this post!
- 2 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice
- water (Fill up till 2 cup line)
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 package shimeji mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 knob ginger
- 2.5 lb bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (6 pieces)
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (for chicken)
- freshly ground black pepper
- ½ Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (for onion)
- 3 cups chicken stock/broth
- 1 Tbsp dry basil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (to taste)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 piece Japanese curry roux (1 small square block)
- 1 Tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 ½ Tbsp mango chutney
- 1 cup neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 1 russet potato
- ½ red bell pepper
- 2 okra
- 2 Japanese/Chinese eggplant
- 2 inches lotus root (renkon)
- 2 oz kabocha (squash/pumpkin)
- Rinse rice and drain well. Place rice and water in the inner pot of the cooker. Close the lid.
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Select [Rice] using [MENU] button and set the steam time to 8 minutes. Press [COOK] button. When cooking is completed, warming will start. Fluff up the rice with a rice scooper. Tip: Adjust cooking time and water according to personal taste.
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Gather all the ingredients. Once we start cooking, we don't have time to measure, so make sure to prepare the seasonings ahead of time (1 piece Japanese curry roux, 1 Tbsp curry powder, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, 1 ½ Tbsp mango chutney, and 1 Tbsp honey).
- Dice the onion (It doesn’t have to be perfect).
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Cut the carrot into small pieces. I recommend using the "rangiri" Japanese cutting method to increase the surface. It’ll help cooking evenly and faster⅔, and absorbing more flavors.
- Mince the garlic and grate the ginger.
- Discard the bottom of the shimeji mushroom stem. Roughly separate the mushrooms.
- Pat dry the chicken with paper towel to remove any moisture. Season the chicken with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
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Set cooker to [BROWNING FRY, level 6] for 30 minutes (you can add more minutes later on if you need extra time).
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Heat 1 Tbsp oil and brown the chicken, skin side down, for 5 minutes each side, or until golden brown. Don’t crowd the pot and brown the chicken in batches, if necessary.
- After the bottom side is nicely brown, flip to cook the other side. Then transfer the chicken to a plate and continue with the next batch. Set aside.
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Add the diced onion and 1 Tbsp unsalted butter. Sauté until translucent, about 7-8 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and mix all together.
- Add 1 piece Japanese curry roux, 1 Tbsp curry powder, and 1 tsp garam masala. Give it a quick stir.
- Add 1 Tbsp tomato paste and sauté until fragrant.
- Add 1 Tbsp honey and 1 ½ Tbsp mango chutney and mix all together.
- Gradually add half the chicken broth, scraping the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Transfer the chicken back to the pot.
- Add the carrots, shimeji mushrooms, and the rest of chicken broth.
- Add 1 Tbsp dry basil and 1 bay leaf. Gently mix all together.
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Close the lid and set cooker to [MULTI COOK, level 9] for 35 minutes. For Instant Pot directions, see Notes.
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Once the pressure cooking is done, open the lid and stir. Add 1 tsp kosher salt and 1 tsp soy sauce.
- Taste and adjust the flavor.
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Lotus root: Slice thinly and soak in water (or ideally 2 cups water + 1 tsp of rice vinegar) for 10 minutes.
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Bell pepper: Remove the seeds and cut into 4 wedges.
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Okra: Remove the hard corners and cut in half lengthwise.
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Kabocha: Thinly slice the kabocha (cut in half if it’s too big). If the kabocha is too hard to cut, microwave for 30 seconds or more if it’s still hard.
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Potato: Cut into 6 to 8 wedges and soak in water to remove starch for 10 minutes.
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Eggplant: Right before deep frying (otherwise it’ll change color), cut the eggplants in half and cut the skin side in criss-cross pattern. This creates a nice design and helps to absorb more flavors.
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Make sure to remove moisture from all the vegetables with paper towel or kitchen towel before frying.
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Add 1 cup of oil in a frying pan (I used a cast iron pan) or pot. Deep/shallow fry the vegetables at 350ºF (175ºC) and drain the excess oil on a paper towel or a wire rack.
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Serve the steamed rice in a small bowl or plate and the soup curry in a bowl. Top the soup curry with deep-fried vegetables. When you eat, pick up some rice with a spoon, and scoop soup curry. Enjoy!
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You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month.
Recipe Video
Instant Pot users: Use [Saute] mode to brown the chicken. Then for pressure cooking, set to [Manual, High Pressure] for 15 minutes. Make sure the steam release handle points at “sealing” and not “venting”. Expect pressure cooking takes 10-15 minutes to reach pressure before the cooking program starts, and another 15-25 minutes to naturally release pressure. When the pot is ⅔ of the way full, I highly recommend natural release.
Nami I really appreciate your hard work and dedication of Mr. Joc for editing and filming such great recipe video , whenever I visit Sapporo , I always enjoy eating this soup Curry with hot rice 🙂 , but didn’t know the recipe , though I tried many times to make it but always failed . It Never tasted what I had eaten in Hokkaido but thank to you that I got this recipe , I’m surly going to try this soon hope it tastes great !!
Thank you for your kind words! I hope you’ll enjoy my Soup Curry recipe! It’s easy, but a bit time consuming especially because of deep frying at the end… but it’s worth it! Hope you give it a try. 🙂
Soup curry from Sapporo is so delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe! 🙂
Hi Kristin! Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
I tried the soup curry yesterday and it was really yummy.
Hi Stella! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. xo
Hi Nami,
I’ve just bought all the ingredients for cooking soup curry. I don’t have a pressure cooker though so I intend to cook the soup curry over stovetop. How high should I turn up the heat and for how long should I cook it, before adding the salt and soy sauce?
Can’t wait to get started on the cooking! 🙂
Hi Bernice! Exciting! Yes, you can totally make it in a stovetop. I’d say cook on low heat, because you don’t want to burn on the bottom pot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Hope you enjoy!! 😀
Do you think I could use the Instant pot to make this soup? I love all your curry recipes and make them all the time and I would love to try to make this soup version!
Hi Callie! Yes, you can and I’ve tried it with IP too. 🙂
I was wondering how to measure of 1 tablespoon convert to how many grams should I use!
Hi Jess! Sorry, I didn’t provide the weight for some ingredients. Tablespoon measurement is a pretty standard unit in American or Japanese recipes to measure (except for baking in Japanese recipes). Depends on an ingredient, weight for 1 tbsp is different. 1 Tbsp of spice is lighter than 1 Tbsp miso, for example. Which weight did you need to know? If I have the ingredient, I could measure it for you since I have both a tablespoon and a kitchen scale.
Made this recipe a second time last night — total dream! I love mixing up the vegetables.
I’m vegan so replaced the sweetener with maple syrup and the chicken with fried blocks of tofu. I also chuck in a couple chilli and an extra bay leaf — love the strong flavours
Thanks so much!
Hi C! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thank you for trying it with vegan-friendly ingredients! Sounds so delicious!!
this looks so amazing!!
my husband wants karaage tonight, and then I came across this recipe while browsing…now I want to make this too ^^;;
ok, maybe too much food for tonight, so maybe I’ll save this for another night. Thanks again for all the great recipes Nami!
Btw, I recall making a different variation of karaage from a recipe on your website but can’t seem to find it anymore? I’m not sure I remember the ingredients unfortunately bc it was a while ago
>< maybe it was a taiwanese fried chicken…
Hi Sasha! Thank you so much and I hope you and your husband will enjoy the karaage recipe! Here are my karaage recipes:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/karaage/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/chicken-karaage/
Hope you enjoy!
What’s the setting for slow cooker?
Hi Candace! How about trying slow cooking for 4 hours?
Any replacement suggestions for the mango chutney?
Hi Katrina! How about some honey or fruits?
This is exactly what I was looking for. It’s warm, healthy, fairly light! I loved that I was able to throw in a large variety and quantity of vegetables as my mother buys in bulk and gives us her spare vegetables. After caramelising the onions and chicken (I used drumsticks) in a pan, I cooked it over the stove in a large pot. Definitely not as fancy as that multi-cooker though!
As always, thanks Nami!
御馳走様でした!
Hi Julia! Aww I’m glad! We’ve been craving for this ourselves too. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Now we want to eat some! 🙂 Thank you for your kind comment!
I want to make the Sapporo Soup Curry but do not have a pressure cooker. Can you give me any advice on how to make this recipe using a regular cooking pot on the stove???
Hi S., To cook on the stovetop, Please follow the steps until at the end of “To Stir Fry” in the pot, and then simmer in the pot for about 40 minutes or until the meat gets tender. We hope you enjoy this dish!! 😀