Evelyn and I have had a pretty busy week and weren’t in the mood for a big complicated meal today. Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I went with something simple: A Japanese Curry mix.

These are boxes of sauce mix that you can buy at Asian markets. To them you add meat and vegetables, simmer for a bit, then serve over some rice. Here is what you start with:

It’s really pretty simple: take two large onions, two medium potatoes, and about 4 medium-small carrots. (I weigh everything, according to the box, since sizes vary.) You clean the veggies and chop into bite sized pieces. Do the same for the meat, ending up with about a pound of bite-sized chicken breast.

Take a large skillet and saute everything in some oil/butter until browned a bit. Then you pour in about three cups of water, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes (until carrots and potatoes are soft–the onions will have softened during the browning process).

Once the veggies are softened, the magic begins. There are two packets of curry mix in the box, individually portioned. I use 1/2 a box (one packet) for the above amount of veggies and meat. You break the curry into pieces (it’s already scored) and stir it in. After about 10 minutes on low heat the sauce will be thickened and you’ll have a delicious curry smell in the house.

The box indicates using the above quantities of veggies and meat with one whole box of curry mix and 5 cups of water. I modified this so that I use the full box quantity of veggies and meat, but about half the water and 1/2 box of the curry mix. This gives a good curry to veggie/meat ratio and a meal for four people (or two meals for 2).

The end result is a big skillet full of warm delicious stew-like smooth curry:

Again, remember that I do a full batch of veggies. This means that you need to do this is a large 12-14″ skillet. It almost overflows my pan (and I have a large commercial 12″ which is a true 12″ across the bottom). If in doubt, cook everything in a Dutch oven, where the chances of overflowing will disappear.

Everything comes together very quickly. If you put your rice in the cooker when you start you’ll have the rice and curry done at the same time (about an hour, including cutting). The curry reheats well. We end up having at least two meals out of the 1/2 box of mix.

A note about the heat level: We have tried the “Medium Hot” and the “Hot”. Unless our taste buds are burned out, we found that neither is hot at all. I couldn’t tell any difference at all between the two heat levels and would consider it mild.

I’d recommend this dish to someone who wants a little variety in their dinner meal, but doesn’t want to go too far off the deep end. Picky traditional people will like it’s stew-like presentation (served over rice). People looking for a new flavor will enjoy the mild curry flavor. Well worth trying out.