So next on the list of menu items this week is a popular Japanese choice: curry rice. That would be Japanese curry rice. Japanese curry is a little less spicy and sweeter than East Asian curries, and does not contain coconut milk.

This is the number one favorite way of eating vegetables in our household. Mia loves curry rice and will eat just about any vegetable I put in it, although she most likes the traditional potato, carrot, and mushrooms. i sometimes use cury rice as a "clean up" food to use up old or semi-wilted vegetables. She doesn't know about the roughly chopped tomato that gets "melted' into the curry....

Japanese style curry rice

Chop an onion, a few carrots, and two small potatoes into a size you like. Cut some meat (any will do, but we tend to use chicken thighs as it is cheaper) into pieces.

Start cooking white, short-grained rice.

Saute the onion in a bit of oil on medium heat until translucent, or, if you really want to get it going, until soft and mushy. Add in all the other ingredients (except for mushrooms or eggplant) and saute for a while. Add water to cover, and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add soft vegetables five minutes before the end of simmering.

Get package of Japanese curry roux. Take your pan off the heat and break up roux into the curry. Let it sit for a moment to melt the roux, then give the mess a few stirs. Put pan back on the burner and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Put some rice in a bowl or on a plate and add the curry to the side.

We take pieces of vegetable and meat out and kind of "clean" them a little for our 2 year old's curry rice. mia will eat prodigidous amounts of curry, so I always have to make more rice than usual on curry days. The curry is also good on a piece of bread.

Time wise this is a great meal because it just takes some quick chopping. You use one pot and most of the time the food is just simmering without much help from you.