Beef, potatoes, carrots, onion, and curry roux all make sense in Japanese curry. Instant coffee was the ingredient I didn’t expect to see go into the pot.
Reddit user u/SantaSantitaMaldita added a small amount while making Japanese beef curry in a slow cooker for the first time. She doesn’t even drink coffee. Instead, she keeps instant coffee packets in the kitchen for cooking and adds some to the curry along with the roux.
Brown the Beef Before It Goes Into the Slow Cooker
The curry starts with 500 grams of stew beef seasoned with salt and pepper.
Brown the meat in a pan, remove it, then sauté one onion in the same pan. Once the onion has cooked, add a little beef broth to deglaze the surface rather than leaving what remains from the beef behind.
The broth becomes the cooking liquid for the curry. When another commenter asked whether she used water with the curry roux, she confirmed that she uses beef broth instead.
Layer the Vegetables Under the Beef
Three large potatoes go into the slow cooker first, followed by four carrots and celery.
The browned beef sits on top with the cooked onion and beef broth. Salt, pepper, and MSG are also part of the ingredient list.
From there, the curry cooks on low for six hours.
Wait Before Adding the Curry Roux
The curry roux doesn’t go in at the beginning.
Around the four-hour mark, she adds a full box of mild S&B curry roux. She stirs until the blocks have melted into the liquid, then checks the seasoning and adjusts it before the final part of the cook.
She confirmed in the discussion that she uses the whole box rather than adding only a few blocks.
Instant Coffee Goes in With the Roux
Coffee joins the slow cooker at the same point as the curry roux.
She doesn’t specify an exact amount beyond “a bit,” so this isn’t a recipe where a full cup of coffee replaces the broth. Beef broth remains the main liquid, while instant coffee is an addition near the end of the six-hour cook.
One commenter noticed the addition and suggested chocolate as another ingredient that can pair with curry. Another asked why coffee was there at all.
She Keeps Instant Coffee Just for Cooking
When someone asked whether she meant coffee grounds, brewed coffee, or espresso, the answer was instant coffee.
She said espresso could work in a smaller amount, but instant is what she uses. More surprising, she doesn’t drink coffee herself. She keeps packets around for dishes like this.
The coffee isn’t the foundation of the Japanese curry. Beef broth and curry roux still build the sauce, while beef and vegetables make up most of the pot. It’s the small addition tucked in beside the roux that makes the recipe stand out.
Would you add instant coffee to Japanese curry, or leave it out of the pot?
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