Curry Stew

As many weeks/weekends would have it, finding time to cook something can be a daunting task. I wish I was better at thinking ahead and making sure that we had something in the fridge for every night of the week, but I just don't seem to get it done.  Actually last weekend though, I did look ahead and decided to cook something Bubba could heat up after a night of fall baseball practice. It's been cooler and so the notion of Curry Stew didn't seem out of season.  It is one of his favorites, from his days at home in Hawaii and I do my best to replicate how his mom used to make it. There is no recipe that I am aware of, except for the instructions from the back of the S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (yep, I use a mix). How I go about this is all based on what Bubba has told me about how he remembers his mother making it. I make adjustments since not all the ingredients are available in Texas, so I guess I should call this "Texas Style Curry Stew".  I have never actually written a recipe, so let's see how this turns out. And you might have guessed already, this recipe didn't come from My Grandma's Recipe box, but she always wanted to visit Hawaii, and I think if she had, she might have put this in her recipe box, specially if Bubba's mom had made it for her. Based on the simplicity of the recipes in her boxes, this would have fit right in!

Curry Stew
1 - 1 1/2 lbs lean stew meat
1 box S&B Golden Curry (I like medium hot) - Usually find this in the asian section of your grocery store
Carrot, Celery, Onion, Potato all cut to preference (I cut the carrot and celery in smaller dice)
Fresh green beans (cut in to 1-2 inch bite size pieces)
Daikon (if you can find it - I say if you include this, it isn't "Texas Style")


Brown the stew meat in a small amount of olive oil.  Put all the vegetables, the meat, the curry and 2 1/2 cups water in the crockpot, cook for 6-8 hours on low. Just before serving you may want to add a little corn starch dissolved in a little water to thicken the curry.  Serve over rice.


Curry is a very popular dish in Hawaii, and is considered one of the most popular dishes in Japan as well.  You can buy curry from lunch wagons and oka zuya's (take out deli that serves "local" food- no sandwiches) throughout Hawaii. In reading about it's history, it is typically prepared with onions, carrots and potatoes. Daikon must be the Hawaii influence and the green beans must be "mom's" influence.  Curry was introduced to Japan during what is known as Meijii era (1869-1913), when India was under the administration of the British and the Imperial Japanese Navy adopted it from the British Navy. In some regions of Japan, beef curry is most popular, in other regions where there is strong Hindu and Islamic influence vegetarian, chicken and lamb curries are more popular.