Gyutan curry is a personal favorite of mine, after both having it in Japan, and learning how to cook beef tongue in general through other recipes like my gyutan doria. Off cuts like beef tongue, when stewed for forever, just have this luxurious yet tender quality to them, where they almost melt in the mouth from being cooked low and slow. I love simmered dishes and stews for this reason, because they are comforting. Japanese curry is was a regular meal in my mom’s dinner rotation, because it was easy to make, very filling, and just a crowdpleaser. As I got older, I started learning how to make it from scratch(the amount of curry powder you need for a Japanese curry is mildly insane), and figured, why not try a curry instead? I wanted to keep some of the homey feel to it, so curry, beef tongue that’s stewed in it, and rice, literally just three components. That being said, each component still needs some work. The beef tongue itself is the biggest time suck, because you need to boil it for an hour, just to make it earlier to peel get that weirdly hairy, tough exterior off. From there, the rest of the recipe is a bit easier. Yes, we are making Japanese curry from scratch instead of using the roux cubes, which requires us to make a roux from scratch, in addition to toasting the spices, and that step does require a lot of direct focus to not burn the spices or the flour. But we are taking a slight shortcut with the carrots, using the baby ones instead of cutting them, since I find that baby carrots are cut better for a stew than just trying to julienne or dice them. For the rice, we are toasting the rice with garlic in oil first, just to release a nuttier aroma from the grains, just because if we have the choice between plain or garlic rice to serve with a stew, garlic rice is where it’s at all day, every day. This recipe is a bit bigger-batched compared to my usual, mostly because beef tongue is a gigantic piece of meat, but it makes for great leftovers, especially since curries tend to develop more flavor the longer they sit!

Makes 6-8 servings:
For the beef tongue:
1 beef tongue
2 tbsp canola oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
4 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp honey
1 beef bouillon cube
3 cups beef stock
2 tbsp miso paste

In a large pot filled with water, start by boiling the beef tongue for 1 hour. Shock the beef tongue in cold water, then using your hands and a knife, carefully peel off the exterior of the tongue. With the remainder of the tongue, cut into medium dice. In another large pot, sweat out onions and garlic in the canola oil. Deglaze with the mirin, then add in the other ingredients, including the beef tongue cubes, and allow everything to simmer for another hour.

For the curry:
2 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 fuji apple, peeled, cored, and grated
2 cups baby carrots
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut in medium dice

In a nonstick pan, start by toasting the curry powder, cardamom, and coriander in the canola oil on medium heat until fragrant. Add to the oil your flour and salt, stirring on low heat until the flour takes on a brown color, like milk chocolate. Add that, along with the apple, to the pot with the beef tongue, stirring to ensure everything is mixed together on medium-low heat. 20 minutes prior to serving, add the carrots and potatoes into the pot, simmering both with the curry on medium heat, stirring everything 3 minutes, just to ensure the bottom of the pot does not scald.

For the garlic rice:
1 1/2 cups rice
2 tbsp canola oil(or beef tallow)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 1/4 cups water, plus more for rinsing

Rinse the rice through a sieve until the water runs clear. In a large nonstick pan, start by toasting the garlic and rice in the oil until the garlic begins to brown. Transfer the rice and garlic into a rice cooker and add in the water. Cook in the rice cooker, following the machine’s instructions.