How I Developed This Recipe
So far, I have developed recipes for curry using the roux cube box, beef curry, and chicken katsu curry, but the one I like the most is seafood curry.
This recipe was designed to maximize the natural flavors of fresh seafood. Some steps might seem time-consuming, and some ingredients might seem unusual, but each element is there for a reason and helps create the perfect dish.
I grew up in Japan and have enjoyed countless plates of curry rice over the past three decades, so I can confidently say this recipe produces something extraordinary.
There are probably not many people in Japan who make it this way. Please enjoy this one-of-a-kind seafood curry!
Key Ingredients & Substitution Ideas
- Seafood Selection: I used a combination of shrimp, scallops, and tuna as the base. Feel free to add local seafood like squid or shellfish—they’ll give your curry a great umami boost. Just pick whatever’s freshest at your local market!
- Japanese Curry Powder: For authentic flavor, use a Japanese-style curry spice mix. I either recommend trying my homemade curry mix recipe, or S&B’s Oriental Curry Mix. But you can still make this using regular curry powder from your supermarket.
- Dashi Stock: This essential Japanese soup stock is the building block of our curry’s flavor profile. While making your own dashi is the best way to go, quality dashi packets are a great alternative.
- Squid ink (squid ink): This special ingredient does two things: it deepens the seafood flavors and it gives the curry a gorgeous dark color. Just a little goes a long way! If you can’t find it, the curry will still be great without it.
- Japanese Rice: Short-grain Japanese rice is the ideal side to go with this curry. For more detailed instructions on selecting and preparing the perfect rice, check out my comprehensive white rice cooking guide on the blog.
- Secret Flavor Enhancers: This special blend includes white wine, garam masala, instant coffee powder, honey, blueberry jam, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. A small amount of each ingredient is important for creating our curry’s complex flavor profile.
- Other ingredients: Olive oil, unsalted butter, onion, garlic, ginger, cake flour (or all-purpose), bay leaf.
Visual Walkthrough & Tips
Here are my step-by-step instructions for how to make Seafood Curry Rice at home. For ingredient quantities and simplified instructions, scroll down for the Printable Recipe Card below.
This section aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the cooking steps and techniques with visuals. It also includes more in-depth tips and tricks and explains why I do what I do.
STEP
Ingredient Preparation
Next, pour the soy sauce over the tuna cubes, making sure they’re all evenly coated. Let them marinate while you get the other components ready.
Start by heating a wok or large frying pan over the lowest heat setting. Add the olive oil and the reserved prawn shells. Let the shells soak in the oil for about 10 to 15 minutes, giving it a stir now and then.
This gentle extraction process draws out the sweet, briny essence of the prawns, creating a flavorful base for the dish.
Take the prawn shells out of the infused oil, but keep the tasty oil in the wok.
Turn up the heat to medium. Next, add the prawns, scallops, and marinated tuna to the wok. You can also add your root vegetables here (I used carrot and potatoes) so that they take on some of the flavor from the seafood.
Just a heads-up: We’re saving the marinade liquid for later. Cook just until the seafood starts to look opaque, which should take about 2-3 minutes.
Once done, take it out of the wok and set it aside.
STEP
Building the Curry Base
STEP
Final Flavor Enhancement
After the initial simmering, add the finishing ingredients: white wine, garam masala, coffee powder, honey, blueberry jam, and Worcestershire sauce.
If you want to know more about secret ingredients for Japanese curry, check out my general curry guide!
Simmer for an additional 10 minutes to integrate these flavors fully.
I hope you enjoy this Seafood Curry Rice recipe! If you try it out, I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought by giving a review and star rating in the comments below. It’s also helpful to share any adjustments you made to the recipe with our other readers. Thank you!
More Japanese Curry Recipes
Japanese Dark Seafood Curry
Enjoy the deep flavors and gravy-like texture of Japanese-style curry with a seafood twist! This recipe is perfect for seafood lovers!
Ingredients
Part 1 (Marinating, Infusing & Prep)
Part 2 (Browning Ingredients)
Part 4 (Curry & Secret Ingredients)
Prevent your screen from going dark
Instructions
Part 1 (Marinating, Infusing & Prep – 30 mins)
Part 2 (Browning Ingredients – 5 minutes)
Take the pot with the shrimp infused oil and increase the heat to medium. Remove the tuna from the soy sauce and add it to the pan, save the leftover soy sauce for later. Add the shrimp, 100 g scallops, 2 potatoes and 1 carrot and cook until the seafood starts to change color and looks opaque.
Once done, transfer the seafood and vegetables to a plate for later. We will reuse the pot in the next steps.
Part 3 (Roux – 10 minutes)
Part 4 (Curry & Secret Ingredients – 25 minutes)
