Most notably known as the birthplace of the oldest beer in Japan, Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, is also a food lover’s paradise. You can find incredibly fresh seafood, seasonal vegetables from local farms, and high-quality dairy products, all of which contribute to its thriving food scene. Aside from the famous soft-serve ice cream, snow crab, and jingisu kan (barbecue-style mutton dish), another local specialty that any visitors to the snowy city must-try is Soup Curry (スープカレー). Served piping hot and filled with nutritious ingredients and flavorful spices, this amazing curry dish is one of the best cure-alls on a cold, snowy day, or any day when your curry craving hits.
What is Soup Curry?
The original soup curry was firstly created by a cafe in Sapporo in the early 70’s. Inspired by a Chinese/Korean medicinal soup and curry from Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India, it was a clever adaptation of all these different influences with local elements in mind. By the 2000’s, more specialty shops started popping up everywhere in Sapporo and soup curry became Sapporo’s new signature dish. The typical Sapporo soup curry consists of the following: a light curry flavored soup, chicken leg, and non-battered deep-fried vegetables (su-age style, 素揚げ) such as eggplants, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, okra, and kabocha squash. Unlike the typical Japanese curry, steamed rice is always served separately. You scoop up the rice and then dip into the soup curry to enjoy together. When you’re almost done with the rice, you transfer the remaining rice into the soup curry and enjoy the last bits together. With so much vibrancy and comfort that comes with the curry, it is no wonder the locals go wild about it. There’s no better way to keep you through the long winter nights with this restorative dish.
5 Key Points for Soup Curry
1. Soupy
As the name suggests, Sapporo soup curry is soupy—it’s thin and watery, not thick like regular Japanese curry rice.
2. Layers of spices
When Japanese make curry, we rely on the store-bought curry roux like this. However, for soup curry, you add more spices like curry powder, garam masala, basil, etc. The fun part of this recipe is you can create your own spice blend for the soup curry and easily adjust to your own likings. My friend who helped me create this recipe uses honey and mango chutney. My kids and I love these additions in our soup curry as well.
3. Colorful and Chunky Ingredients
Soup curry has very colorful and chunkier vegetables as you don’t cook them in the curry with meat and stock. Instead, vegetables are deep fried without batter (Japanese su-age technique) and served on top of the curry at the end. More about the su-age technique later.
4. Varying Textures
You get to enjoy fall-off-the-bone chicken, tender carrots, and crisp deep-fried vegetables all in one bowl. The varying textures add a distinctive presentation and enjoyment to the curry dish.
5. Rice is Served Separately
Unlike a typical Japanese curry rice, Sapporo soup curry is served with steamed rice in a separate bowl or a plate.
What is Su-age (素揚げ)?
Su-age is basically flash-fried without coating any flour or batter. Su means natural or uncoated in this case and age (pronounce a-geh) means deep-frying. Cooking time varies from 30 seconds (bell peppers) to 3 minutes (potatoes). This traditional Japanese cooking technique is used to preserve or intensify ingredients’ original flavors, vibrant colors, and shapes. I have used this technique in recipes like Eggplant Agebitashi and Sweet and Sour Chicken. If you’re using a pressure cooker, making the soup curry itself is a doable task. The flash-frying is where it takes a little longer time. You can choose to skip the deep-fried vegetables, but then again, who wants to miss out the best part of this delicious dish. So, if you’re going to make this Sapporo-signature soup curry, go ahead and indulge yourself. It’s totally worth the effort! Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
