This Vegetarian Japanese Curry is loaded with thick, meaty slices of king oyster mushrooms and colorful vegetables like kabocha, eggplant, and asparagus. With homemade Japanese curry roux, this dish is no doubt our family’s favorite for a bright and flavorful dinner! {Vegan Adaptable}
I received a lot of requests from JOC readers to make a Vegetarian Japanese Curry recipe. Sure, you can throw in chopped veggies in the mix and call it Vegetarian Curry. Instead, I spent a little more time developing one killer version that I am truly excited to share.
It’s one pot of curry that makes the most use of vegetables, and perhaps steals the limelight of the regular curry!
Table of Contents
What’s So Good About This Vegetarian Japanese Curry?
- Big bold layers of flavors, even without meat!
- Nutritious and healthy, with lots of veggies!
- Fulfilling, without too heavy on the stomach.
- Striving to eat more plant-based food? This recipe is going to be your staple.
Bring Regular Curry to The Next Level
The most challenging part of making vegetarian curry in a big pot is that each vegetable has different cooking times.
You can somewhat control by cutting the vegetables into desirable sizes and toss them in, so they are cooked into homogenous tenderness. For this recipe, however, I decided to take on a different approach.
First, I categorized the ingredients based on the texture and density. For this instance, I grouped onions and root vegetables together as they have similar cooking time. Then, I applied a mix of sauteeing and steaming methods to cook them in my Dutch oven pot. Once they are almost 80% tender, I added broth and continued cooking for a short time. Next, I used a separate frying pan and sauteed the rest of the vegetables in stages.
With this approach, each ingredient maintains its shape beautifully. No crumbling potato pieces or overly soft peppers. Because I cooked the vegetables and mushrooms in a separate pan, they get a nice char like how you’d sear meat and ultimately brings additional flavors to the curry.
5 Tips on Making This Curry
- Make homemade Japanese curry roux – You can buy an S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (no meat contained) and use the half box for this recipe, but I highly recommend making the roux from scratch at home!
- Cook the ingredients in stages – Divide your ingredients into dense vegetables, tender vegetables, and mushrooms, and cook them in stages.
- Use king oyster mushrooms – The unique meaty texture of this mushroom lends a great chewy bite and incredible umami. It’s definitely the most delicious type of mushroom to use for Japanese curry. If you can’t find king oyster mushrooms, you can use large portobello mushrooms.
- Don’t overcook each ingredient – Vegetables get mushy and disintegrate easily as you continue to cook. Therefore, it’s important to retain the shape and texture by not overcooking them.
- Top the curry with colorful vegetables – To bring out the color of the curry, I recommend keeping some colorful vegetables you sautee for plating later. The vibrant green, orange and yellow contrasts beautifully on a brown sauce.
Ingredients Substitutes and Suggestions:
This recipe is pretty flexible when it comes to swapping ingredients.
- Vegetables: cauliflower, corn, green beans, okra, zucchini, and etc.
- Mushrooms: Crimini mushroom, portobello mushroom, shiitake mushroom, and etc.
- A meat-eater in the family? You can put Tonkatsu (baked version) or Chicken Katsu (baked version) on top!
How to Make it Vegan
I make the curry roux with butter and saute the mushrooms with butter for the flavors. If you want to make this dish vegan-friendly, simply swap the butter with vegan butter or other types of oil.
Enjoy the Japanese vegetarian curry over rice. It’s going to be the most exciting, satisfying meal you’d love for a very long time.
Other Japanese Curry Recipes You May Want to Try
- Sapporo Soup Curry
- Cold Curry Udon
- Pressure Cooker Japanese Curry
- Pressure Cooker Japanese Seafood Curry
- Japanese Chicken Curry
- Japanese Beef Curry
- Curry Udon
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Vegetarian Japanese Curry
Video
Ingredients
For the Homemade Curry Roux
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter (or use vegan butter or oil for vegan)
- 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour) (or use GF flour for gluten-free)
- 1 Tbsp Japanese curry powder (I recommend S&B Curry Powder; available on Amazon)
- 1 Tbsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional; omit for a milder heat level)
For the Ingredients
- 1 onion (10 oz, 280 g)
- 2 Yukon gold potatoes (9 oz, 260 g)
- ⅛ kabocha squash (seeds removed; 5 oz, 140 g)
- 1 carrot (3 oz, 85 g)
- 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice; from 1-inch, 2.5-cm knob)
- ½ red bell pepper (4 oz, 110 g)
- ½ yellow bell pepper (4 oz, 110 g)
- 8 asparagus spears (5 oz, 140 g)
- 1 Japanese eggplant (4 oz, 115 g)
- 4 king oyster mushrooms (eringi) (5 oz, 140 g)
- ½ shimeji mushrooms (3.5 oz, 100 g)
- 4 button mushrooms (2 oz, 60 g)
- 1 tomato (5 oz, 150 g)
For the Condiments and Seasonings
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (divided in thirds)
- 3 cups vegetable stock/broth (or water)
- 1 bay leaf
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter (or use vegan butter or oil for vegan)
- Japanese curry roux (use the ingredients above and instructions below to make homemade; or use 3.5–4 oz, 100–115 g of store-bought roux)
- 1 apple (8 oz, 220 g)
For Serving
- 4 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice (minimum 1 cup, 180 g per serving)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Homemade Curry Roux
- Preheat a small saucepan over medium heat. Then, add 3 Tbsp unsalted butter and melt it completely. Once the butter is melted, add 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour).
- Reduce the heat just slightly. Combine the flour and butter by stirring continuously with a silicone spatula. The mixture will start to fuse and swell but will eventually become more liquid in form. Now, reduce the heat to low and stir for 15 minutes to cook the flour.
- The mixture will darken to a chocolate color after 12–15 minutes.
- Then, add 1 Tbsp Japanese curry powder and mix well.
- Next, add 1 Tbsp garam masala and ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional).
- Mix well to combine and cook, stirring, for 20 seconds. Transfer the roux to a bowl and set aside.
To Prepare the Ingredients
- Cut 1 onion in half and cut each half into 4 wedges.
- Cut 2 Yukon gold potatoes into quarters and soak them in water to remove the starch, for about 10 minutes. Tip: For Yukon gold potatoes, I leave the peel on.
- Cut ⅛ kabocha squash into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes.
- Cut 1 carrot in the Japanese rangiri style. Grate the ginger and measure the amount 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice).
- Cut ½ red bell pepper and ½ yellow bell pepper into small strips.
- Discard the tough bottom ends of 8 asparagus spears (you can snap off the tough end with your fingers) and cut them diagonally into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces.
- Cut 1 Japanese eggplant in half crosswise and cut each half into wedges. Soak them in water for 10 minutes to remove the astringency and prevent discoloration.
- Cut off the ends of 4 king oyster mushrooms (eringi) stems and cut the mushrooms into 1- to 2-inch (2.5- to 5-cm) pieces.
- Discard the bottom of ½ shimeji mushrooms and separate them into clumps. Cut 4 button mushrooms in half.
- Cut 1 tomato into 6 wedges.
To Cook the Curry
- Preheat a large pot (I used a 4.5 QT Dutch oven) over medium heat. Once hot, add one-third of the 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Then, add the dense vegetables (onion, potatoes, kabocha, and carrot) to the pot. With a spatula, mix and coat the vegetables with the oil, about 1 minute.
- Add the grated ginger and mix. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Let the vegetables steam for 15–20 minutes (we use the steaming method to keep the ingredients‘ shape instead of the boiling method). Meanwhile, you can start stir-frying the vegetables (Step 6).
- Once in a while, shake the pot so the ingredients at the bottom don‘t burn. After 15–20 minutes, insert a skewer and check if the vegetables are 80% cooked.
- Add 3 cups vegetable stock/broth and 1 bay leaf. Bring it to a boil on medium heat.
- Once boiling, skim the scum and foam on the surface and cook for 3 minutes. Insert a skewer to check that the hard vegetables, like the potatoes and carrot, are done. Once the vegetables are cooked through, turn off the heat.
- Preheat a large frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, add another one-third of the olive oil. Then, add the eggplant.
- Cook the eggplant pieces until nicely brown, about 8–10 minutes, and transfer them to a plate.
- In the same pan, add the remaining olive oil. Then, add the bell pepper and asparagus.
- Sauté the vegetables until tender, about 6–7 minutes. Season with Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and transfer them to the plate.
- In the same pan, heat 1 Tbsp unsalted butter and sauté all the mushrooms, about 4 minutes.
- Season with Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and remove from the heat. Set aside.
- Bring the pot back on the stove over medium heat and bring it to simmer. Once the broth is simmering, remove the bay leaf from the pot (optional). Add the mushrooms to the pot.
- Add the vegetables to the pot and gently mix it all together. Tip: Instead of adding all the vegetables, I recommend reserving some of the colorful vegetables for toppings later.
To Make the Curry Sauce
- When the broth is heated through, turn off the heat. Gradually add a small amount of the homemade Japanese curry roux (or 1–2 cubes store-bought roux) to your ladle along with some hot broth. Let the roux dissolve completely in the ladle before releasing it to the broth. Repeat to dissolve the remaining curry roux. Taste the sauce and adjust by adding more broth or more curry roux (I used all the homemade roux). Then, turn the heat back on and bring it to a gentle simmer again.
- Grate 1 apple and add it to the curry (adjust the amount of sweetness as you like). Mix gently without breaking up the vegetables.
- Taste the curry (it’s very important!) If needed, add more apple and season with salt. Sometimes, just a pinch of salt can bring out more flavors.
- Taste again. When you‘re done adjusting the seasoning, add the tomato. Now, the curry is ready to serve!
To Serve
- Divide 4 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice and place to one side of each individual serving plate. Pour the curry on the other side. Add a few colorful vegetables you saved on top of the curry.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in a glass airtight container (to avoid stains) and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month. The texture of the potatoes will change in the freezer, so you should take them out before freezing. Defrost the frozen curry in the refrigerator for 24 hours before you want to reheat it.
To Reheat
- Leftover curry sauce will thicken into a paste as it cools, so it tends to burn while reheating. To avoid this, stir ½ cup (120 ml) water or more into the leftover sauce until loosened. Then, gently reheat it on low heat. If the sauce seems thin, continue heating with the lid off to reduce the sauce.
I’m excited to try this recipe as we order Tofu katsu curry quite a lot from our local Japanese restaurant. I found a jar of Japanese curry powder in my grocery store – any suggestions how to make it into the roux? Should I mix the powder with oil or butter +flour then just follow your recipe? The powder is already a bit sweet- do I need to add the apple then? Thanks for any help- I’m a bit of recipe ‘rule follower’ the first time I try a new recipe, so want to get it right!
Hi Santhe, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
We are not sure what in the curry powder jar. Did you see the ingredient list on the jar?
You can probably use it as curry powder in Nami’s Homemade curry roux recipe in the recipe card and follow her recipe. We recommend tasting the curry before adding the apple, make adjustments as you like (skip the apple or add less amount), and add salt.
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami!!!! I just wanted to let you know THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR DELICIOUS RECIPES! I followed your curry roux and curry recipes a couple of times and tonight I felt comfortable enough to switch it up– did a variation where I used chickpeas and boiled a whole tomato on the side (you know, for that tang? Without skin of course?) over rice. I truly truly appreciate you and your channel/site. Your dishes will forever be in my heart.
Ps I never comment on the web.
Hi Erica, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for taking the time to send us your kind feedback.
Nami and JOC team are pleased to hear you enjoy many recipes from our site. Happy Cooking!
It was my first time making Japanese curry, and it came out SO delicious! I’m an experienced home cook, but mostly cook Italian food, so I wasn’t familiar with Japanese cooking techniques. This recipe and the photos made it really easy!
Hi Alicia, You have no idea how much your kind words meant to us! Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your lovely comment!
Hello! I love your chicken curry one and I’m thinking about trying this one as I have an vegetarian guest over for Xmas. In the past I have always been using S&B golden curry box. If I don’t want to make the homemade one, with the recipe you provided, would one box (92g) be enough to make the above recipe? Thank you!!
Hi Angela,
If you check your curry box instruction, it will tell you how much water/liquid is for. We believe S&B 92g is for 540ml of water, and you may need a little more curry roux for this recipe (720 ml water).
Please adjust the salt amount if you are using store bought curry roux!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
Delicious!!!! We love curry, your recipe is so much better than the box type because we know what’s in it. No preservatives. Family loved it. Will make it again.
Hi Andrea!
We are so happy to hear that you and your family loved this curry!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.☺️
Amazing recipe!I’ve made it for my vegan husband,he loved it!
Thank you!
Hi Andreea!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
We are so happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed this curry.☺️
I just made this recipe for my dad’s birthday because he loves curry. It turned out fantastic! The potatoes especially were super fluffy because of the steaming at the beginning, and they have a slight ginger flavor – delicious! I substituted shiitake mushrooms for the king oyster mushrooms since I couldn’t find them where I lived. The flavor was a bit strong, but we love mushrooms so it’s ok. I also made it with instant curry roux, but it was still very good. Goes well with some karaage on the side, and pickled radishes or ginger <3
Hi Kara!
We are so glad to hear you enjoyed this curry with the king oyster mushrooms in it!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!😊
hi,
I had bought curry mix from the japanese grocery, so I didn’t make my own roux this time. After reading the ingredients on the package, I agree that there is some questionable ingredients! I really want to make my own roux, but I’m not sure what kind of curry powder to buy. Could you please help to specify?
Hi Lea,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
Nami has been using S&B curry powder (https://amzn.to/2FyHBsS) and curry powder from a local Indian grocery store. She thinks the S&B brand is catered to more Japanese flavors.
I was inspired to make this after I visited the Japenese Curry House in Rotterdam (NL)!
The recipe was really nice and interesting, never made roux before! The curry turned out really nice! Will definitely make this again :).
Hi Shimone,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoy the homemade curry roux! It takes a bit of time and effort to make curry roux, but the result is always worth it. 🙂
Very good and detailed recipe. Thanks for sharing this. My curry turned out to be yummm.
Hi Sonia,
You have no idea how much your kind words meant to us! Thank you so much for trying this recipe!
Hi Nami
Great recipe, but can you please change the steaming temperature from low to medium low? I had the veggies on low for 20 mins and they were barely warm so had to cook for another 20 on medium low
Hi Adam! Thank you so much for your feedback. I’ll add low to medium-low. The medium-low is definitely a bit too strong for some stove like mine, but it really depends on what type of stove you have, so I’ll add the range. Thank you again!!
Hii Nami,
Thank you for this lovely website, I’ve made lots of recipes already, and enjoyed them all.
This was the first time for me to make my own Japanese curry roux, which is quite different than the ones I used to make for Indian curry.
For me it wasn’t quite clear if you use all the roux in this recipe or just half. My roux was quite strong so I only used half. But I think I have to experiment with different curry powders anyway (I have around 6 different kinds in my cabinet…).
Thank you very much!
Hi Marte! Thank you for your kind feedback and I’m really happy to hear you tried and enjoyed many of my recipes. 🙂 I used all the curry roux, but maybe I didn’t explain clearly in the recipe instructions, so I’ll update it.
That was awesome! Wow, I’m amazed! I just found out abour your site, cause I’ve been missing japanese cuisine so much and guess I found the jackpot with your site here.
In my country (Switzerland) we rarely have any other authentic restaurants expect for Sushi and maybe Ramen. But damn, this curry was soooo good and authentic! I liked the split cooking of the rooted/onion vegetable and the other ones, it really made the curry so colorful and every vegetable could shine with it’s own taste.
I really appreciate too, that you not only include the american measurement sizes, but also the ml and gramm sizes! This makes it much easier for me the cook it and spares of so much converting time (and then even not be sure if it’s right!) I’m definitely gonna make many more of your recipes!
Hi Gabriel! Thank you for your kind feedback. I’m so glad to hear you enjoy this recipe and thank you for trying it! Hope you find some recipes that you enjoy from my website. xo
Wow. Just wow. This was so yummy. I find cutting up vegetables very enjoyable and it was very pleasing seeing the variety of colours. It is also great being able to use up any amount of vegetables I have as the curry sauce works so wonderfully with anything. The fact that you can make roux at home is very useful and probably saves a few dollars! Your end result is always so beautiful, Nami.
As always, thanks Nami!
御馳走様でした!
Hi Julia! どうもありがとう! I’m glad you liked this recipe. This method takes a long time, but I really love creating additional flavors/layers to the dish! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
Made this and thought the flavor was absolutely wonderful and unique. The mix of different textures (and colors) of veg adds to the experience, though I did find it time-consuming to prepare.
Question, as someone with little experience making rouxs; what is the level of thickness we are looking for in the final product, once the roux has been added to the stock at the end?
Thanks for putting out more veggie friendly recipes!
Hi May! I completely agree – it’s definitely not a weeknight recipe kinda thing. Unfortunately. For filming this, it was even longer as I have to do each step separately while in reality, I could use a few gas stoves to do it at the same time. Still, not “simple”, like you said.
Roux is adjustable – but homemade roux won’t be like those Japanese curry roux in the box (lots of unknown artificial stuff in there). You can make it thicker, if you increase the basic roux – butter and flour. 🙂