Last Updated on June 3, 2023

Have you had “Dry Curry” before? This Parsley & Tempeh Dry Curry might be the first dry curry experience for you! The combination of parsley & tempeh is already odd enough and both of them aren’t the traditional curry ingredients. But guess what? It actually works quite well!

What is Dry Curry?

Dry Curry is one of the Japanese style curry dishes inspired by Indian curry. In case you may not know, Japanese people like curry [カレー]! Japanese curry is often called as “Curry Rice” [カレーライス] which literally means curry with rice. It’s certainly different than the Indian curry. Because of the popularity of it, Japanese people recognize curry as one of the national dishes side by side with ramen, sushi, and tempra and etc.. Now, why dry? The consistency of the “traditional” Japanese curry is rather saucy and thick from the curry roux [カレールー]. The common ingredients for the traditional one are onion, carrot, potato, and meat (or shellfish.) On the other hand, the consistency of “dry curry” is dry which means not saucy or soupy. The common ingredients for dry curry is onion, green bell pepper, ground beef and curry powder.

Parsley? Tempeh? What?

Parsley is not really a strange ingredients for Japanese curry. It’s not cooked in curry but the Japanese rice served with curry often has minced parsley. Parsley is relatively strong but we purposely use a lot for this dish to give some vibrant and slightly bitter flavor. We use curly parsley for this dish because that’s the kind wildly used in Japan so we wanted to keep some traditional elements! For tempeh, we use it simply to give some texture and to replace the meat part or the traditional one. We typically buy the organic original tempeh from Lightlife. Some tempeh has a really strong flavor or in some cases bitter flavor (maybe just us?) but this particular product has a mild flavor that is not too dominant. If don’t like tempeh because of the flavor, we highly recommend you to give a try on this product!

Curry Powder 

Curry powder tastes different from brand to brand. It’s very convenient to have when adding a basic curry flavor that is quick and no blending & tempering required. The one we typically use is organic curry powder from from Simply Organic.

What to Pair With

Traditional Japanese dry curry is always served with Japanese rice (yes, starchy short grain rice.) But since this dish doesn’t have a typical dry curry flavor, we pair with our Coconut Ginger Basmati Rice with Cumin Seed. The aroma of ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, with a sweetness of coconut milk works very well with this unique curry dish! Of course, you can choose your favorite rice to complement this Parsley & Tempeh Dry Curry! To brighten up the flavor, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice will be a great finishing touch!

Print Recipe

5 from 11 votes

Parsley & Tempeh Dry Curry

Dry Curry is one of the Japanese style curry dishes inspired by Indian curry with no sauce (dry.) This is a variation of traditional dry curry made with parsley and tempeh. It has a mild spiciness with a super vibrant aroma from parsley with a "meaty" texture from tempeh!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: Entree, Lunch, Dinner

Cuisine: Japanese Inspired, Indian-Inspired, Vegan

Servings: 4 people

Author: Plant-Based Matters

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1- inch knob ginger minced
• 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
• 1 block (8 oz) Tempeh
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups roughly chopped curly parsley (or use Italian parsley)
• Lemon wedges/slices

Instructions

• Heat up a frying pan at medium high heat. Pour grapeseed oil then add garlic and ginger. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Use hands to crumble tempeh into the size of peas over the pan. Add curry powder then season with salt and black pepper. Keep stirring and cook for another 3 minutes.
• Lastly, add parsley and turn off the heat. Give a quick stir. Parsley should be slightly wilted but not cooked down.
• Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Notes

• It’s best served with rice such as basmati rice or Japanese rice
• Try with our Coconut Ginger Basmati Rice with Cumin Seed.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @plantbased_matters or tag #plantbased_matters!