Curry Udon, what a combination! Japanese curry and Japanese noodle Udon. Two of the most loved Japanese foods together. Surely this is the ultimate Japanese winter comfort food to cook.
What is Udon?
Udon is Japanese wheat noodle. It is usually a thick and chewy noodle served both hot or cold. You can make it yourself, but because it is a popular noodle in Japan, Udon is readily available from supermarkets and shops in Japan, and probably in most major cities around the world.
Udon comes in many different forms. Freshly made, dry and frozen. In Australia we can get dry udon and frozen udon. I usually get frozen udon from Asian or Japanese grocery stores. Those frozen udon are very convenient. So firstly, just thaw the udon in boiling water for 1 minute.
What’s in Curry Udon?
I usually add chopped onion, thinly sliced beef and scallions for garnishing. However you can put any ingredients you already have in your fridge or to suit your dietary requirements.
Substitution suggestions
For example, if you have pork or chicken in your fridge instead of beef, use protein sources that you have. Just remember to slice it thinly or cut them into small chunks. If you want to make it meatless, you could use A-ge (pronounced “a・gae”) which is deep fried tofu. Finally, you can also add any vegetables you like of course.
Soup
Udon soup base is Dashi stock. Usually udon soup consists of soy sauce and mirin. This is the basic udon soup. We need to add curry roux
to the base udon soup. This soup will be thinner than a normal Japanese curry.
Shortcut
For busy Japanese people, there are always shortcuts available but don’t compromise taste. The above photo shows commonly available instant udon soup mix and Japanese curry roux. “Higashimaru Udon Soup Stock 
” is the soup mix I use for udon soup. For Japanese curry roux, my favourite is “House Java Curry” but Vermont curry is good for curry udon too.
15 minutes
You can make this ultimate Japanese winter comfort Curry Udon in 15 minutes! Curry Udon was this busy Japanese nurse student’s best friend, because curry udon can be made under 15 minutes. We often made this at the Japanese red cross dormitory that we had to live in for three years. So before we went on night shift practice, we ate it to pump ourselves up to survive through the night.
Here is my recipe for Curry Udon. I hope you enjoy this hearty Japanese winter comfort dish. Also don’t forget to check out other Udon noodle recipes such as Tempura Udon, Stir Fry Udon (Yaki Udon) and Cold Udon noodle salad.
If you liked my recipe for Curry Udon, please rate it and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook , Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I can see your wonderful creations!
Curry Udon
Ingredients
- 150 g thinly sliced beef
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups of water
- 1 packet of Udon soup
- 2 pieces of curry roux
- 1 chopped scallions (green shallot) to garnish
- 2 frozen udon noodles
Instructions
- Slice the beef very thinly and chop the onions.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in an oven proof frying pan over medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion and cook for a couple minutes.
- Add the beef and cook until the meat colour change.
- Add 2 cups of water and bring it to boil. Remove the scum as often and as necessary.
- Open and empty the instant udon soup packet to the frying pan.
- Add 2 pieces of curry roux.
- When all the roux has dissolved and the soup has thickened, turn the heat off.
- Meanwhile, in a separate pot, bring 2 litres of water to boil and add the udon noodle and cook it for one minute. *1
- Turn the heat off and drain the cooking water.
- Serve half of the udon noodle in a bowl and pour half of the curry soup.
- Garnish with chopped green shallots.
Made this last night and it was delicious!
I bought a pack of udon but it had seaweed flavoured soup base. Still worked really well, I couldn’t find the individual udon soup packets in Victoria.
What cut of beef did you use?
PS: Loving your website!
Thank you Natalia, you can use udon soup from scratch with Dashi recipes I recently uploaded. You need to add mirin and soy sauce to any of the dashi. My favourite is NIboshi dashi. I buy thinly sliced wagyu beef from a local Japanese grocery stores. I bet more Japanese grocery stores there than they are in Brisbane. If you can’t find any you can froze a piece of meat half frozen and slice it thinly with a sharp knife.
It’s lion pork I think, the thinly sliced one.
This looks absolutely delicious and easy, too. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome 😀
I don’t have 1 packet of Udon soup or 2 pieces of curry roux, but I do have miso, chinese spices, ginger, various curries. What can I substitute?
Hi Chris, You can make miso flavoured Udon, but it will not be curry flavoured udon.
delicious and super easy to make! 🙂
Thank you Kari 😀
Unfortunately shipping for those instant udon packets would cost $35.99 to ship to Canada, is there any way I could substitute the instant udon with something different?
Thank you!
Hi Brian, Ohhh so sorry to hear it. Udon should be inexpensive meal… Ok my blog is still young and I have a lots to share. Making your own udon noodle is one of them. Stay tuned, I will share homemade udon noodle soon. It is not difficult to make 😀
You might be able to find dried udon in an Asian grocers, particularly if you can find a Korean one.
And also, I just use either chicken stock or vegetable stock with a bit of mirin and soy. Tastes great
This lovely share makes me want to cook a bowl of curry udon tomorrow!
Hi Venice, make it today 😀 👍
This is a beautifully authentic recipe and is one of my absolute favorite Japanese noodle dishes.
I just got some thin sliced beef in my butcher box, I know what I’m making next now!
Yes Aimee 😀 it will be the curry udon 😀
Yum! Tried this yesterday! Super easy + tasty! 🙂 Thank you for the recipe!
You are welcome Coco 😀
Hi, I want to try this, but I’ve never seen udon soup sachets in my local asian market (I live in Austria), only dashi ones….what’s the difference? Or can I just use any broth instead?
Hi Jenni, Udon soup contains soy sauce and mirin. So if you can find instant dashi soup, make dashi soup by following the packet instruction and add 2tbsp soy sauce and 2tbsp mirin 😀
Thank you so much!
super tasty i love it!
I’m glad! Thank you 😀
Raining season and I need something light yet warm for dinner. I saw this recipe yesterday and I just mase it for the first time this evening. My husband loved it and he said it’a going to be a big hit if I sell it *LOL*
Didn’t have a chance to take a picture.
Thanka for this recipe.
I added minced portobello mushroom and carrots though.
Fantastic Rachael! You can replace the ingredients anything you fancy and minced portobello mushroom and carrots sounds delicious <3 It has been raining here in Brisbane too. I might have curry udon for dinner 😀