Light and Healthy Mirai - Albuquerque, NM

Facebook: Light and Healthy Mirai
This restaurant does not have a website, but they do have a facebook page.

This is a terrible excuse for curry

Spice:  4 out of 10
Overall:  2 out of 10


It was a late night at work which means we get dinner on the company.  We usually get it from local restaurants since there are not always enough people to justify full blown catering.  On one such night we ordered from "Light and Healthy Mirai" which I think is a weird name for a restaurant.  Name aside, I've mentioned before that all of the Asian cuisine in Albuquerque, NM leaves much to be desired. I've eaten from this place before, but I usually try to get dishes that are hard to mess up like karaage, or teriyaki.

I had a feeling the curry from here was not going to be great, possibly not very good, but since I wasn't paying for it I decided to take a gamble.  I ordered the chicken curry and was immediately disappointed when I opened the styrofoam container pictured you see above. Maybe I should have ordered the katsu curry - at least it would be fried which makes everything taste better.

The presentation was horrible, but I'll let that slide since it's take-out. There was a disturbing lack of smell. I always make fun of CoCo Ichibanya because of their slogan "Good smell, good curry" but it's true! All of the best curries smell great which gets you excited before you even start to eat.

I don't know if it shows in the picture but this curry was so thin.  I mixed it with the rice and instead of a nice coating, it sort of just rolled off the rice and down to the bottom of the container.  This was more like a stew with rice mixed in than curry on top of rice.  At this point I had no hope of a delicious curry dinner - oh well.

Once I tried it I confirmed everything I thought. This was terrible. I didn't even finish it because it just wasn't good enough to satisfy me. I had about half and tossed the rest out.   It was bland, watery, and lacked almost any vegetables except for a small amount of carrots and potatoes which were overcooked. The only thing that prevented this from a rating of 1 was that nothing in the curry was offensive. It was not gross, but it also was not good.

The best thing about this curry is that I only paid for it with my time.  Again, if you're in Albuquerque, NM and want Japanese Curry - make it yourself!

Nagoya Cochin Curry

Thank you Nagoya!

Spice:  6 out of 10 
Rating: 9.5 out of 10


Today's curry is served with a side of history. As you can see by the rating I loved this curry, but first let's get to our brief history lesson. One great thing about food is that you can learn a lot about the culture and history of the society where it originated when you eat. This is why you can goto a Japanese, Italian, Greek, Mexican, Thai, etc restaurant and you'll find vastly different food.  There is a lot of culture behind Japanese food and it all ties in with the rest of Japanese society - however, the only things I'm ever going to get into on this blog are about Japanese culture and/or history as it relates to Japanese Curry. 


This curry is thanks to the delicious Nagoya Cochin Chicken. I had never heard of this breed of chicken before - actually I can't name any other breed of chicken. I'm not an expert on chicken breeds, I just eat them! It's only because my wife told me that this curry was made from a special kind of chicken that I ever found out about it.  


This is where not being able to really read Japanese and choosing a curry based purely on the box gets interesting.  Anyway, I was intrigued about this 'special chicken' after I'd eaten the curry and decided it was time to visit my good friend Google. This is how I learned that Nagoya is known for their heirloom breed of chicken known as the Nagoya Cochin. 

I taste wonderful!

The Nagoya Cochin chicken is apparently a famous breed of chicken according to the internet.  In fact, Nagoya is known for it's dishes made from this breed of chicken.  There are entire restaurants in Nagoya devoted solely to different dishes cooked from the Nagoya Cochin. Normally you can't eat raw poultry, but you can apparently eat Nagoya Cochin sashimi!  This breed originally came into existence during the Meiji era by crossing a local Nagoya breed with a Chinese breed of chickens called the Cochin Buff. These chickens became popular because they laid a large number of eggs and their meat was especially tasty (I can attest to this). 

When other breeds that grew much faster were brought to Japan after World War II there was a potential crisis that could have wiped out the breed. Instead, these prized chickens were saved (THANK YOU) by the Poultry Institute of the Aichi Agricultural Research Center which raised awareness of the high quality flavor and low fat content of the meat compared to the more mass-produced breeds which I assume came from the United States. 

This breed is also different from mass-bred chickens in that they take about 2.5 times longer to mature than other chicken breeds.  In line with Kobe beef these chickens are allowed to roam freely and are not kept in cages. I personally think this has a lot to do with how good they taste - I believe ANY breed of any animal will taste better if they are allowed to live as they were meant to rather than be force-fed in a tiny cage until they are slaughtered.  In addition they weigh less than other chickens and so the meat costs about 4 times more than other chicken meat.  I will happily pay 4 times as much for some of this chicken when I'm in Japan! Not on a day-to-day basis, but every now and then I'd say splurge on the Nagoya Cochin!! ^_^  

I need to goto Nagoya next time I visit Japan so that I can try this meat fresh, because in a prepared package of curry which has a bunch of preservatives in it it was still AMAZING.  Enough learning, let's get to the curry!

♡o｡.(✿ฺ｡ ✿ฺ)

When I first opened the package of curry I was greeted by the most the most wonderful smell. If heaven exists it might smell a little bit like this. It's the best smelling curry I've ever had that was not cooked fresh at home or in a restaurant. In fact, it smelled better than a lot of curry I've had in restaurants. 


The curry itself tasted great.  It was creamy, had a nice medium level of spice, and had a hint of a rustic - almost smokey flavor to it. Not the kind of smokey that over powers the food and makes you feel like you're eating next to a campfire. It was subtle, and it was that extra bit of flavor that drove this over the edge into the realm of not just great curry, but GREAT CURRY. 


The balance between spice and smokey rustic flavors was perfect. It was balanced better than most peoples' check books!  Then there was the creamy aspect.  I've never had curry that I would describe as 'creamy' before.  I want more, there has to be others.  It tasted like a tomato based cream. Not quite to the extreme as an alfredo sauce, but to the level that a Japanese dish would borrow the "creaminess" from an Italian dish and make something wholly Japanese. The ability to take something from one culture and then change into something more in line with Japanese culture and pass it off as their own is one thing that I love about Japan, but that's a whole other topic.  Another thing I love about Japan is that you can buy Nagoya Cochin Curry in a supermarket! 


This curry is just about perfect for a store bought curry. There is nothing wrong with it except that it wasn't in a package 10 times larger.  If you're in Japan stop reading this blog and go get yourself some of this curry!

I was very sad to see this
｡゜(｀Д´)゜｡

Currysan's Spicy Surf n Turf Curry recipe

My spicy surf n turf curry

Spice: 8 out of 10 
Rating: 9 out of 10

Another day, another curry!  I've been eating a lot of beef curry lately so I decided that I wanted something different for the protein in this newest batch of curry.  I thought "I never use tofu, should I try now?" No. Chicken? Sounds great! Shrimp? This also sounds great! 

So the question is how do you choose between the shrimp and chicken when they both sound good?  The answer was simple, I don't have to choose - it's time to make a surf n turf curry!  I decided that not only would this be tasty, but it'll be fun to make a themed curry every now and then.  This is my first one, but I'm sure I'll think of others in the future.  Does anyone out there have an idea for a themed curry to try?

This curry was great!  I think this may be one of the best I've ever made.  The spice level was really good although I was trying to go a tiny bit spicier than it came out. This was the kind of spice that builds as you eat more. It didn't burn the tongue but I found that as I ate more my body temperature began to rise, I started to sweat a little, and the back of my throat started to feel it. I was generous with the cajun spice blend and I'm glad I was!  Plus, I think mixing the hot versions of curry from two companies made a really nice blend of spicy flavors.  

I was loving this curry from the first bite. It had spice, it had a ton of flavor, and it was great getting both chicken and shrimp to taste. I found that the best bites had both a piece of chicken AND a shrimp in the spoon. It was amazing and a really nice combination. The only thing that might have made this even more incredible would be to have it all fried as I love katsu curry!

I think it's time to make some curry only using one brand of curry to really get a feel for the flavor of each one. This will help me eventually make the ultimate curry! You need to know your ingredients, so I need to get back to basics.

If you want a great protein-full curry, this is it! I definitely recommend this over the previous recipe I posted. I'll be making a curry like this again for sure!

  

Ingredients
2 yellow onions
2 large carrots
1 red bell pepper
4 oz sliced mushrooms
1 lb cooked shrimp
1 lb chicken breast cubed
2 cups chicken broth
8 fingerling potatoes
1 cut sweet peas
2 Tbsp ketchup
Urban Accents cajun spice burger blend to taste
Golden Curry Hot
Java Curry Hot




This makes a very large amount of curry - I froze half of it for later and happily ate it for dinner for a few days. 

How I cooked it

First I prepared all of the vegetables and meat.  Then I cooked the onions, chicken, and potatoes in the pot and sprinkled on the cajun burger blend to taste.  I was generous with this blend so that the chicken and potatoes would have some spiciness regardless of whether it was in a curry or not. Then, once the onions were browned I added 2 cups of chicken broth, 3.5 cups of water, the carrots, pepper, and sweet peas. I brought it to a boil and then lowered the heat to medium and let it cook for 20 minutes. 

Then I ran out of time as I was meeting people to see a movie.  So I left the half-cooked curry covered on the stove for 4.5 hours while I went to the movie and then dinner with coworkers. When I got back I reheated the food and added the curry stock, ketchup, and shrimp and let it cook on low heat for another 20 minutes.  

As I had already had dinner I wasn't hungry but I had to at least try a bite - it was great! Since I wasn't going to be eating I just left it covered on the stove until I left for work the next morning.  When I was at work I left it in the pot inside the fridge and I reheated it on the stove for one of the better curry dinners I've had the pleasure of eating.  :D

My Favorite Curries

When it's time to eat curry there are essentially three categories of curry to consider.  Homemade, store bought that you heat up at home, and curries prepared at a restaurant. I don't think it's really fair to compare curries from one category to another because they're different and each one can be amazing. There are benefits to each category and I happen to have favorites for each one as well. Perhaps one day I'll try a curry that becomes a new favorite or I'll figure out the secret to making one curry to rule them all! But for now here are the best:


Homemade


Favorite: My mother-in-law's beef curry.
Why it's my favorite:  While I haven't eaten curry in every Japanese household, my mother-in-law's curry is definitely better than any curry my wife and I have made at home. The flavor is so rich and there is a perfect balance between sweet and salty. Everything is cooked to perfection and the beef is so tender you'd think it was tenderized before it was cooked (but it wasn't). It is the most umami curry I've had.
          I've helped make it and that is when I learned that the best curries are a combination of different brands of curry mixed together. I don't know which ones are used or what the ratio is to the family recipe, but even if I did I wouldn't give the entire thing away. I'll have to fully learn the recipe next time we visit Kanazawa.
          It might be the best curry I've ever eaten but I will never make a claim like that without conducting a blind taste test with all of my favorite curries at the same time.
Pros: Obviously when you are making curry from scratch at home you know your ingredients will be fresh. You also can make it with whatever vegetables and meat you want. Plus, you control the portion size, if you want to make a lot and eat it for days you can. If you want to make a lot and freeze some for later you can do that as well.  Curry also tastes best the day after it was made. So if you cook it at home you can leave it on the stove overnight and reheat it the next day for a mouth full of oishiiness!
Cons: You have to spend time buying the ingredients and cooking the curry. This can be a lot of fun, but sometimes you're too tired to enjoy cutting vegetables or waiting for curry to cook. Sometimes all you want to do is make some rice and eat which is where the next category comes into play.




Store bought

Favorite: Noto Beef Curry.
Why it's my favorite: It actually tastes like it was freshly prepared even though all you had to do was heat it up in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. The beef tastes really good and the flavor of the curry itself is sweet and tangy. I'd be happy to get curry this good in a restaurant and I've had worse curry in a restaurant in Japan, so for pre-made food that's pretty amazing.
Pros:  All you have to do is place the pouch in boiling water for 3-5 minutes and then pour over rice. It also tastes great.
Cons:  You can only buy this in Japan so if you live in the United States (or anywhere else) like I do, you're out of luck. The ingredients are not as fresh as homemade or restaurant curry and it contains a bunch of preservatives. For store bought curry this is one of the most expensive - I think it's worth the price to have every now and then but it's a little expensive to be an every day item. Sometimes I forget to make boiled eggs ahead of time and I'd rather eat than wait for eggs to boil and then cool down. Curry is always better with a boiled egg on top.



Restaurant

For restaurants I have a tie. I'll write about each one separately below. 

Favorite:  Hurry Curry of Tokyo, West Los Angeles, CA

Why it's my favorite: It might be bias because this is where I first discovered that Japanese curry existed.  I had just moved to Los Angeles and a friend conveniently lived across the street and took me here. Previously I had only had Thai and Indian curry, but Japanese curry is something even greater! 

          Even though it was first, I've now had a lot of curry and this is still a place that I crave to go. Until I went to Japan it was my number 1 with no competition. The curry itself is so full of flavor and I could eat their chicken katsu curry at least once a week and never get tired of it. 

Pros:  It's pretty fast, the staff are always great, and it has a really nice atmosphere. All in all it's a nice experience going here and you're guaranteed amazing curry every time.  It also comes with a really tasty salad - it's one of my favorite salad dressings ever! If you don't feel like curry they also have a selection of Japanese spaghetti's (I know, weird right?) which are delicious as well. 

          If you live in Jakarta, Indonesia there's a location there as well. 

Cons:  It's not very close to my home and the way traffic is in Los Angeles I don't get to go there very often. Trying to get to the westside of Los Angeles during rush hour is worse than a paper cut. The location being so close to the 405 seems convenient, but it actually makes it a pain in the ass to get to from the eastside. 

          There used to be a Pasadena location which was much more convenient but sadly it closed almost 2 years ago when the building was sold and the new owner severely raised the rent. I still mourn the loss of that location and I refuse to ever patronize the restaurant that took it's place. 

Favorite:  CoCo Ichibanya, Osaka, Japan (although there are many locations with a new one in Torrance, CA that I need to go to)

Why it's my favorite: As with all of my favorites it comes down to taste.  CoCo is full of flavor, plus they have a very large range of spicyness. You can go from no heat to burn your tongue off and sweat like you're sitting in a sauna.  

Pros: It's a fairly large chain so there's a decent chance that you can get to one of their locations. It tastes amazing and is pretty quick. One day I need to put CoCo against Hurry Curry in a taste test because it might just be as good. You can customize your curry here which is awesome and something that I haven't seen anywhere else - at least to this extent.  You get to choose your level of spice, if you want extra rice, plus a whole slew of extra toppings for a small fee. The customization is almost as good as if you were cooking at home, except you don't have to do any work! 

Cons: It's a chain and the idea is that it's sort of a fast-food comfort place.  The decor is boring and only a slight improvement from a place like Denny's. The idea is that you go here for a quick and delicious meal, which is great, but the surroundings leave something to be desired.  The staff does their job properly, but you can tell that they work for a large company.

          As far as the Osaka location it takes 12 hours in a plane to get to Japan, plus all the time involved dealing with LAX. There is a Torrance, CA location now which is only about 40 minutes away but I haven't been there yet so I don't know if it lives up to Japan standards.