Kare pan
Kare pan is one of the most popular buns in Japanese bakeries: soft yeast dough filled with Japanese curry, coated in panko and deep-fried. Outside it is crisp like a cutlet, inside fluffy and full of thick, sweet-savoury curry. There is one secret: the filling must be completely cold and very thick, or it will burst the dough in the oil. Cook the curry the day before, or right at the start so it has time to chill.
Your own work in that: 35 min.
- Curry filling 30 min
- Dough 15 min
- Rising 60 min
- Filling and coating 20 min
- Second rise 30 min
- Frying 25 min
- Cooling 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCook the curry
Finely dice the onion, carrot and potato. Melt the butter in a saucepan, fry the onion 3 minutes, add the mince and fry, breaking it up, until it loses its raw colour. Stir in the flour and curry powder, then add the water, carrot, potato, soy sauce, ketchup and salt.
Ingredients: 150 g minced beef or mixed mince · 120 g onion · 40 g carrot · 100 g potato · 15 g butter · 15 g plain flour · 1 tbsp curry powder · 100 ml water · 1 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tbsp ketchup · ¼ tsp salt
Reduce the filling
Cook covered over low heat for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the meat is cooked through, then a few minutes uncovered until the curry is very thick — a spoon should leave a trail on the base. It makes about 480 g, that is 60 g per bun. Spread it thinly on a flat plate and get it into the fridge within an hour; it must be cold right through.
Ingredients: 150 g minced beef or mixed mince · 120 g onion · 40 g carrot · 100 g potato · 15 g butter · 15 g plain flour · 1 tbsp curry powder · 100 ml water · 1 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tbsp ketchup · ¼ tsp salt
Very thick — a runny filling bursts the dough.Knead the dough
Mix the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt. Add the egg and lukewarm milk and knead 8 minutes. Add the butter and knead another 5–7 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Ingredients: 300 g strong bread flour · 150 ml lukewarm milk · 5 g dried yeast · 30 g sugar · 6 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 30 g butter, soft
Leave to rise
Cover the bowl and leave the dough somewhere warm for 60 minutes until doubled.
Ingredients: 300 g strong bread flour · 150 ml lukewarm milk · 5 g dried yeast · 30 g sugar · 6 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 30 g butter, soft
Fill the buns
Divide the dough into 8 pieces (about 70 g each) and flatten each into an 11 cm disc, thicker in the middle. Put a heaped spoonful of cold curry (about 60 g) in the middle, pinch the edges tightly shut and shape oval buns, seam down.
Ingredients: 300 g strong bread flour · 150 ml lukewarm milk · 5 g dried yeast · 30 g sugar · 6 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 30 g butter, soft
Seal the edges well — nothing may leak in the oil.Coat in panko
Beat the egg. Dip each bun in the egg, then roll in panko, pressing lightly. Set them seam down on a tray, cover and leave 30 minutes.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg for coating · 60 g panko · 1000 ml rapeseed oil for frying
Egg, then panko — breaded like a cutlet.Fry
Heat the oil in a pot about 20 cm across to 170°C — a layer of about 3 cm, no more than a third of the way up the pot. Fry 2 buns at a time, 3 minutes per side, until deep golden. Do not fry hotter: the panko burns while the dough stays raw. Cut the first bun open and check the crumb is not doughy; if it is, lower the heat and give the rest a little longer. Never leave the pot unattended, and never put water on burning oil — cover the pot and turn off the hob.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg for coating · 60 g panko · 1000 ml rapeseed oil for frying
Drain and serve
Lift the buns onto a rack and cool at least 10 minutes — the filling is very hot. Serve lukewarm.
Ingredients: 150 g minced beef or mixed mince · 120 g onion · 40 g carrot · 100 g potato · 15 g butter · 15 g plain flour · 1 tbsp curry powder · 100 ml water · 1 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tbsp ketchup · ¼ tsp salt
Before you start
From ready-made curry
If you have Japanese curry blocks (S&B or House, for example), cook the filling with 2 blocks instead of the flour and curry powder, with 100 ml water. It will taste closer to a Japanese bakery. The blocks are salty, so leave out the salt.
Baked version
You can also bake the buns: after coating in panko, drizzle them generously with oil and bake 15–18 minutes at 190°C. They will be lighter but less crisp.
Storage
Keep kare pan, which contains meat, in the fridge for up to 2 days in a closed container. Reheat 8 minutes at 180°C before serving. They can be frozen once fried and cooled.
