Japanese Curry with Cat Rice Balls

Japanese curry is something I grew up eating regularly in Korea. My mom would always make it for us at least once a month, and the smell still reminds me of home. I love this curry because it is extremely easy to make, but is not lacking in flavor. The key to my family’s take on Japanese curry is to cut the vegetables into very small pieces.

I used my family’s favorite curry, Golden Curry in Extra Hot, but you can replicate this recipe with any other brand! You can find Japanese curry blocks at most Asian markets.

I wanted to try something a bit fun and kid friendly with my curry today, so I decided to make little cat rice balls to place on the curry! Honestly, the most time consuming part of this recipe was cutting out the nori pieces. I’ve seen nori cutout kits made for this purpose, but I think it’s a fun little project to cut out your own faces for the rice balls. You can totally make these into bears, dogs, bunnies, whatever your heart desires!

This is such a fun little project for you and your family, or just for yourself. This dish is perfect for packing in a bento for lunch! You could also totally omit the cat rice balls and have the curry over rice or udon. Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments down below!

Print Recipe

Japanese Curry with Cat Rice Balls

Savory chicken and vegetable curry with cute cat character rice balls

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese, Korean

Keyword: bento, bento ideas, chicken curry, japanese curry, kid’s lunch, kid’s lunchbox, lunchbox ideas

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 2 cubes Japanese curry block I used Golden Curry
• 1/2 Potato
• 1/2 Onion
• 1/2 Large carrot
• 1/2 Chicken breast
• 1 and 1/2 cup Chicken broth
• 1 cup Rice
• 1 sheet Nori
• 1 tsp Olive oil

Instructions

• Cook 1 cup rice.
• Cut carrot, onion, potato and chicken breast into small pieces
• Heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium high heat. Add vegetables to pot and cook until they have softened, about 3 minutes. Add chicken to pot and cook, stirring often for about 3-4 more minutes until chicken is cooked through. Season with a little salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low.
• Add chicken broth to pot and stir. Add curry cubes and stir until they are completely incorporated. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
• While curry simmers, cut nori into shapes of cat eyes, ears, nose, whiskers, mouth, and paws. You can get creative here! I used small scissors, but you can use kitchen scissors as well.
  
• Put on some cooking gloves, drizzle a tiny bit of oil and rub hands together. Take cooked rice and form two large ovals for the heads, four small cone shapes for the ears, and four small balls for the feet. Press the ears into the top of the large rice balls to form the head into a cat shape. Take your nori and carefully place on the rice to make the face and paws. If the nori won't stick, you can apply a piece of rice to the back of the nori to act as tape/glue.
• Scoop curry into bowls, top with cat head on one end, and two paws on the other end (I used an oval bowl to look like a tub.) Enjoy!