Dry curry/Keema curry, Sort of ドライカレーもどき

Whenever we barbecue chicken we cook two, so that we have enough for sandwiches during the week but often, we end up with excess chicken meat. I have used the cooked chicken meat in many different ways making curry, soup, salad, terrine and more. This is another new variation. It is a type of curry I came up with one day. It is similar to a type of  Japanese curry called "Keema curry" or "dry curry". "Dry curry" must be a Japanese modification of "keema curry". It is called "dry" as opposed to regular Japanese style curry which has a thick "wet" sauce. I had these type of curries in mind but I did not even look up recipes until I started writing up this dish for the blog. This was my attempt at finishing up the barbecued chicken dark meat. I served this over rice and topped with soft poached egg and a side of assorted pickles shown in the small square dish on the right. The pickle at the top of the dish is homemade pickled watermelon rind, the white one below that is store bought rakkyo らっきょう and the red one on the bottom is "Fukushin zuke" 福神漬け.

The poached egg had a nice runny yolk which is mixed into the curry and the rice. As per Japanese tradition, we ate it with a spoon not a fork.

The curry is made of finely chopped cooked chicken, and vegetables and I also include raisins which gives it a nice sweet taste. It does not have any sauce per se.

Japanese generally top this with chopped boiled egg, a raw egg or raw egg yolk but we like our egg soft poached.

Still the yolk is totally runny and almost same as using raw egg yolk (this is pasteurized Daividson's egg).

Ingredients (probably makes 4 servings):

Chicken meat, dark meat, barbecued (4 legs), meat separated and finely chopped

Onion, one medium, finely diced

Garlic, one fat clove, finely diced

Ginger, finely chopped, 1 tsp

Carrot, one medium, peeled, sliced on bias, julienned and finely diced.

Raisin, 1/3 cup

Japanese curry powder (SB brand) but any curry powder will do,  2 tsp or more

Garam masala, 1/2 tsp

Chicken broth (about 2-3 cups or as needed), I used Swanson no fat and low salt version

Olive oil for sauteeing (2tbs)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In the pot, I added olive oil or any vegetable oil and when the surface started simmering, added finely chopped garlic and ginger.
2. When the garlic and ginger got fragrant, I added the onion, carrot and kept sauteing for several more minutes.
3. I added the chicken, the curry powder and kept stirring for a few more minutes and added the raisins. 
4. I added the chicken broth just enough to cover the ingredients and simmered for 10-15 minutes.
5. If the liquid is not enough add more chicken broth until everything is cooked and only some moisture left.
6. I added the garam masala, salt and black pepper.

Assembly:

I placed cooked rice in a bowl and layered it with the dry curry and topped with soft poached egg.

This was a good new way to use leftover cooked chicken. Of course you could make this from other ground meats such as beef, lamb, chicken or pork. The curry was spicy enough that you feel the heat but not too hot. The egg yolk makes the curry a bit milder and these pickles went so well with this curry. Since this curry is "dry", you could use it over a cracker or a piece of bread as well.