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A casserole containing Curry Doria (Japanese Rice Gratin).

Curry Doria (Rice Gratin)

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: curry rice, rice gratin
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Namiko Chen

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!

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Ingredients

  • 3 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice
  • ½ onion
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 6 oz ground beef (170 g)
  • 6 oz ground pork (170 g)
  • kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp curry powder
  • 1 ½ cups chicken/vegetable stock (360 ml)
  • 2 Tbsp Tonkatsu sauce (Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce recipe)
  • 2 Tbsp ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (separated)
  • ½ cup Mozzarella cheese (120 ml; You can use other cheese like Parmesan.)
  • ½ cup Romano cheese (120 ml; You can use other cheese like Parmesan.)
  • 2 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • Parsley (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Gather all the ingredients. Start cooking rice. See How To Cook Rice (rice cooker or stovetop) for reference. You will also need 2 medium-size baking dishes or 1 large baking dish.

    Curry Doria Ingredients
  2. Mince the onion, celery, and carrot into small pieces.
    Curry Doria 1
  3. Heat olive oil over medium heat and add crushed (or minced) garlic and a bay leaf (if you tear in half, the fragrance will come out faster).
    Curry Doria 2
  4. Saute minced onion and celery over medium high heat until they are almost translucent.
    Curry Doria 3
  5. Add carrot and cook until tender.
    Curry Doria 4
  6. Add the meat and break it up, stirring occasionally. Cook until the meat is no longer pink.
    Curry Doria 5
  7. Season with salt and pepper.
    Curry Doria 6

  8. Add 1 Tbsp curry powder and 1 ½ cup chicken/vegetable broth. If the liquid doesn’t cover the ingredients, you will need to add more broth or water.

    Curry Doria 7
  9. 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.
    Curry Doria 8

  10. Add 2 Tbsp Tonkatsu sauce, 2 Tbsp ketchup, and 1 Tbsp butter. The meat mixture should be a bit on saltier side than 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.

    Curry Doria 9

  11. Use the other 1 Tbsp butter to grease the sides and bottom of the baking dish(es). Place the steamed rice in the baking dish.

    Curry Doria 10
  12. Place the meat mixture (and sauce, if you like) on top of the rice. Then sprinkle both kinds of cheese. Finally sprinkle panko on top to add crispy texture.
    Curry Doria 11
  13. 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.
    Curry Doria 12
  14. Sprinkle fresh parsley on top and serve immediately.
    A casserole containing Curry Doria (Japanese Rice Gratin).

Recipe Notes

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.