Ingredients you can buy at supermarkets and shops when making curry in Europe

When living in Europe as a student or member of society, there are Japanese foods and ingredients that you absolutely want to eat.
When you cook for yourself or your family, there are many times when you want to enjoy the familiar taste of Japan.
Here, we will mainly explain the ingredients necessary for Japanese food that you can buy at supermarkets and shops in Europe.

Procure ingredients in Europe and make curry

Curry is an easy and convenient dish for students to stock up on.
It's the same for working people and people with households, and it's a dish that will make your family happy.
This time, I will explain the ingredients used to make Japanese curry in Europe.

Ingredients for curry bought at European supermarkets

First, let's take a look at the typical curry ingredients: carrots, onions, potatoes, and meat.

Carrots, onions, and potatoes, these three types of vegetables can be purchased in European supermarkets as well as in Japanese supermarkets.

However, there are differences in the size and taste of vegetables, and of course, the price, depending on the country or region.

Here is an example of European carrots.
Compared to Japanese carrots, they are slender and shorter.
Many of the carrots sold in European supermarkets are of this type, and if you are expecting the same kind of carrots as in Japan, you may be a little disappointed.
However, when you actually eat it, there is no big difference in taste.

Next is onions.
This is also a little smaller than Japanese onions like carrots.
Many supermarkets have yellow onions, white onions, and red onions.
Buy according to your taste.

The last is potatoes.
This is almost the same as what you can buy at Japanese supermarkets.
Personally, I think Baron or May Queen is closer to Baron.

Potatoes are often sold in 1kg bags, so if you put a lot of potatoes in the curry and still can't use it all, it's delicious to make French fries or potato chips.

Meat that is sold but difficult to procure

And regarding meat, unlike Japan, they don't sell thinly sliced ​​meat.
If you really want it, I think you have to go to a butcher who sells it by the piece and have it sliced ​​thinly.

It may not go well with curry, but if you have a tongue (tongue) handling, most tongues are thinly sliced, so you might want to consider that.

It may be one way to enjoy the curry made in Europe to enjoy the large chunky meat.

Extra: Japanese curry roux not sold in local supermarkets

It is very difficult to find retort curry roux like those sold in Japanese supermarkets in European supermarkets.

Basically, it is difficult to get it unless you buy it at a Japanese grocery store, an Asian shop, or an online store.

Of course, if you don't mind spending time and money, you can make curry without using Japanese retort curry roux.
You can buy a wide variety of spices in most European supermarkets.

Of course, you can combine various spices to make Indian-style curry, and you can also add bouillon to make it Japanese-style.

They also sell small bottles of spices labeled Indian curry or British curry.
In that case, it is possible to get closer to the curry you want to eat with just that spice, but since the contents are small in the first place, depending on the amount you make, you may need a whole bottle or more at a time.

However, it's still difficult to make curry that tastes like Japanese retort curry, so buying curry roux at a store like the one mentioned above may be the best solution.

Remarks: About rice

Even if you eat curry, nothing will start without this rice.
Most supermarkets in Europe sell rice itself.

However, most of it is rice for risotto, and there are cases where the heart remains in the rice even after it is cooked.

Indica rice is sometimes sold, so there is something different, but you can eat curry more deliciously than rice for risotto.

If you really want to eat Japanese rice, you need to buy it at a Japanese grocery store or online store, just like Japanese curry roux.

There are several types of Japanese rice available in Europe, but one of the most famous is Yumenishiki.

It's Japanese rice from Italy, but it's just like the rice you buy in Japan.

If it is this, compatibility with Japanese curry is perfect and you can enjoy it deliciously.

Ingredients that are delicious when added to other curries

In addition to the basic ingredients, there are many ingredients that make curry delicious.
I will extract and explain some of the ingredients available in Europe from among them.

Garlic for example.
Adding garlic when making curry enhances the flavor and makes it very appetizing.
You can get it as easily as in Japan at supermarkets in Europe.
European garlic has a good flavor and can be enjoyed deliciously.

Eggplant is delicious when added to the dish.
Compared to the eggplant in Japan, it feels very large.
The appearance is similar to Japanese round eggplant, but the size is larger than that.
Even if it looks different, it doesn't taste bad, and of course it's delicious even if you put it in curry.

There is also paprika.
European supermarkets sell large paprikas whole.
Paprika has a unique taste that is different from bell peppers, and it is very delicious as an ingredient to add to curry.

Also, paprika powder is often lined up in the spice corner as a seasoning and coloring, so you may be able to use that as well.