Instant curry rice is something I’ve always wanted, but the idea of a truly shelf-stable rice that could be stored with minimal preparation seemed a bit far-fetched. That’s why I was surprised a few years ago to see Minato Aqua, Oozora Subaru, and Usada Pekora from hololive promoting a new product called Nissin Curry Meshi, or Japanese curry rice in a cup.
[nội dung được nhúng]
When I visited Japan last year, I took the opportunity to buy some for myself. What I didn’t know was that there are many versions at this point: the original; the “perfect meal” version; the extra spicy; and hayashi, which isn’t technically curry but is often lumped together with it. Yotsuba famously calls hayashi “mock curry.”
As shown in the three-way video above, preparing these instant curries involves adding water to a cup, waiting a few minutes, and then stirring constantly to melt the roux and mix it with the rice. It's a little more involved than Cup Noodles, but not by much.
Each flavor tastes pretty much exactly what they claim to. They hit the right notes and won't be confused with any of the others. I do think the perfect meal version would have thrown the whole thing into a bit of a funk with the extra amount of separate curry powder, but overall the flavor is fine.
Normally
The rice is good but not 100% authentic. It's hard to mistake this for fresh rice (or even day-old rice) if served in a blind taste test. It reminds me of a rice cereal in that it feels like rehydrated rice, but not necessarily like dry cooked rice. The curry doesn't seem to be quite there, nor does the rice, but together they make a pretty decent replica.
Some containers recommend adding the raw egg after pouring in the water, but depending on how comfortable you are with eating undercooked eggs (or how eggs are handled where you live), that may not be the best idea.
Hayashi (left) and Keema (right)
Nissin has been selling Seafood and Curry Cup Noodles in the US for the past few years, and they're pretty much the same as the higher quality versions in Japan. I hope they figure out a way to bring Curry Meshi here. It's not the best thing in the world, but I can see it working well for people who want something quick and easy but are bored with instant noodles.
(I wonder if Nissin branches have come up with flavors to suit local tastes. Maybe instead of Curry Meshi, we'll have instant rice and beans.)