Try my delicious and easy Pork Curry Donburi recipe that you can make in just 30 minutes. This rice bowl is a fast, one-dish weeknight meal!
This past weekend was the last weekend we spent together before my son goes to Kindergarten. I know it’s absurd I am thinking as if he’s going off to college, but it’s definitely strange seeing my little baby grow up so quickly. He’s starting his new school this Wednesday and he’s really excited about going to a “big boy” school.
I’ve been quite busy lately due to my husband’s traveling and it’s been a challenge to prepare complete meals. In these times, I always have two options that I fall back on: Donburi (rice bowl dish) or noodles (pasta or Asian noodles). Both types of dishes are relatively easy and quick to prepare, and the important part is that they fill you and your children up quickly and have fewer dishes to wash!
So today Donburi menu is! As I mentioned in my Japanese Beef Curry post, curry rice is one of the Japanese kids’ favorite meals. I always looked forward to the day when my mom was making curry rice for dinner. We have a lot of curry rice specialty restaurants in Japan and it wouldn’t be incorrect to say it’s one of the most popular dishes for the Japanese.
Unlike Thai curry or Indian curry, the spice level is milder and the sauce is quite thick. It’s always served with rice and the main ingredients include meat/seafood, onion, potatoes, and carrot. Each family has its own slightly different recipe as well.
Most Japanese do not make curry from individual spices and use curry roux, which was invented by a Japanese spice company. If you go to an Asian or Japanese store, you will find at least 3 brands of curry roux with varying spice levels. If you like to make curry roux from scratch, here’s the recipe.
This curry is super quick since you don’t really need to simmer for a long time like regular curry. So if you need to make dinner in less than 45 minutes, this is a great option.
Other Donburi Recipes
If curry is not your option, then I have other Donburi recipes that I have shared so far and I hope you can find some recipes that you like.
- Teriyaki Pork Loin Salad Donburi
- Beef Donburi with Shiso Garlic Soy Sauce
- Tori Soboro Donburi
- Eggplant & Unagi Donburi
- Crispy Tonkatsu Donburi
- Negitoro & Avocado Donburi
- Oyakodon
- Chinese Style Karaage Don
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Pork Curry Donburi
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
- 1 onion (thinly sliced)
- ½ lb sliced pork belly (cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces)
- 2 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) (use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi)
- 2 cubes Japanese curry roux (you can make my homemade curry roux)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
For Serving
- 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice (typically 1⅔ cups (250 g) per donburi serving)
- 1 green onion/scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Gather all the ingredients. For the steamed rice, please note that 1½ cups (300 g, 2 rice cooker cups) of uncooked Japanese short-grain rice yield 4⅓ cups (660 g) of cooked rice, enough for 2 donburi servings (3⅓ cups, 500 g). See how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe.
- In a large frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil on medium heat and sauté 1 onion (thinly sliced), about 5 minutes.
- When the sliced onion is tender, add ½ lb sliced pork belly and cook until it‘s no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
- Add 2 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) and bring it to a boil.
- Using a fine-mesh strainer, skim off the scum and foam from the surface. Then, reduce the heat to medium-low and add 2 cubes Japanese curry roux.
- Dissolve the cubes completely. If the curry is too thick or salty, you can add more dashi or water. When the curry starts to thicken, add 1 Tbsp soy sauce and mix well.
- Divide 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice into individual donburi bowls and put the curry on top. Garnish it with 1 green onion/scallion (chopped) and enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight glass container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for a month. Store any unused curry roux in the refrigerator.
To Reheat
- Leftover curry will thicken as it cools, so it tends to burn while reheating. To avoid this, stir ¼ cup (60 ml) water or more into the leftover curry until loosened. Then, gently reheat it on low heat. If it seems thin, continue heating with the lid off to reduce the sauce.
If I use dashi packet, do I need to boil it separate first or can I throw the packet and water to boil as written in the recipe? I’m worried it will boil too long to get the dashi flavor and ruin the meat.
Hi Steph, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We recommend making the Dashi separately to get the maximum flavor out of it. It just takes five minutes.😉
https://www.justonecookbook.com/dashi-packet/
We hope this helps!
In a Japanese household, what would be served with pork curry donburi? Would you have soup with it, a vegetable side dish, pickles? Or is the donburi the entire meal?
Hi Kit! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We usually serve Donburi dish with soup, vegetable side dish, and pickles.
Please check out our “MAKE IT INTO A MEAL” at the end of this post where you can see the idea of dishes that can go with this meal.
We hope this is helpful!
can I used pork shoulder instead of pork belly?
Hi Irma! Yes, you can use pork shoulder for this recipe. Please adjust the cooking time if your meat slices are big.
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe.
Thank you
Thanks for posting this recipe Nami! I fell in love with Japanese curry while I was stationed in Japan for 2 years. I miss Coco Ichiban so much sometimes, lol. I make it at home every 1-2 months. I usually use chicken broth, but after seeing your recipe I’m going to try using dashi next time. What kind of dashi would you recommend using?
Hi Michael! We are glad to hear you enjoyed Nami’s post!
Nami recommends Awase dashi for this recipe. https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/
We hope this helps!
The sauce was so creamy and delicious. It was so simple to make with very few ingredients. Really enjoyed making it.
As always, thanks Nami!
御馳走様でした！
Hi Julia! Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback. どうもありがとう、ジュリア！
Can’t I replace the dashi by plain tap water? I was looking for an easy curry recipe, expect dashi isn’t something which I can make easy.
Hi Wesley! You can! Dashi is a magical ingredient that makes the food taste very Japanese, even a little bit of dashi makes a huge difference if you swap with water or chicken stock or other stock. 🙂 You know, when you are searching for the authentic flavor, it’s always the dashi that plays an important role. It’s super easy to make (but ingredients can be hard depending on where you live). Try dashi powder or dashi packet if you want a shortcut. I’ll put the dashi link here in case you’re interested. 🙂 xo
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi-jiru/
It’s so filling and delicious.
We are in a food coma and I’m typing this from my dreams!
Hi Gail! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for trying it and for your kind feedback. 🙂
When we visit my daughter in Japan I notice that the super-thinly cut pork and beef is abailable at all supermarkets. Can’t find it here in the UK. So we have to do our own slicing. Should it be sliced with, or across, the grain of the meat?
Hi Peter! If you’re making this and requires the sliced meat, get the pork belly blocks that looks like bacon (pre-cutting). Freeze it for 30 minutes (and check to see how far you need to freeze more) to 60 minutes and see if you can slice it. You should slice the same way / directions as bacon slices. 🙂
Hope this picture helps for you to determine which way to cut: https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/thinly-sliced-meats/
Hi Nami!
Quick question… Is the pork belly you are using in your recipes smoked? Is it the same as bacon?
Hi Alina! Nope, it’s raw. Not bacon. It’s the pork belly that becomes bacon/smoked. 🙂 I’m not sure where you live, but Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Mexican butcher would have it because we enjoy cooking it in our foods. It might be in a freezer section too.. 🙂 In Korean and Japanese grocery stores, you can always find pre-sliced. Very convenient. If you can only buy block, you can freeze for 1-2 hours and make sure it’s hard enough to slice with a sharp knife. Or butcher might be able to do it (but I think they will cut it too thick). Hope this helps!
Thanks for your reply! I is so difficult to find it in Switzerland… Asian Shops don’t usually sell meat and stuff, only fish and only frozen. And in local supermarkets they only sell pork belly which is already salted. Or bacon. I think if I want raw unsalted pork belly I have to order it in advance and pick it up later at the supermarket… Swiss people don’t eat fatty meat, let alone pork belly… so sad.
Hi Alina! I see. I understand, different cuisine different ingredients. 🙂 You could make it with other meat, and doesn’t have to be pork or use other pork part that’s available to you. 🙂 It’ll be still delicious! xo
Hi! May I know if it’s necessary to use dashi stock? Or is there any other alternative to it? Thanks!
Hi Jolynn! I like this flavor so I use dashi, but you can use other stock (or water). 🙂
I’ve cooked so many wonderful recipes from this blog. I love regular curry, but this is even better (and faster, easier prep). Thank you SO much for sharing so much goodness all the time!
Hi Maggie! Thanks so much for your kind feedback. I’m so happy to hear you like and enjoy my recipes. Thank you, Maggie! xo