Cold curry? Mujirushi makes one of our favorite hot meals chilly, but does that make it goof?

Is this the edible summer savior we’ve been looking for?

Curry is hot, by just about any meaning of the word. It’s spicy, delicious when poured piping hot onto rice, and becoming more and more popular around the globe.

But on our most recent shopping trip, we came across curry that’s supposed to be cold.

We found this fascinating foodstuff at Mujirushi, which is offering at least two types of cold curry through the summer: Chicken and Ginger Cold Curry and Prawn and Tomato Cold Curry. Naturally, we picked up a pack of each (they’re both priced at 350 yen [US$2.80]) and tossed them in the fridge as soon as we got home.

Once they were thoroughly chilled, we opened up the pouches for a pre-taste testing visual check.

The cold curries have a smoother consistency than standard Japanese curry, closer to a soup broth than ordinary curry roux.

That smooth makes a whole mouthful easy to scoop up in a spoon, and both the cold curries have a nice, spicy kick to them, and Chicken and Ginger Cold Curry isn’t kidding about the ginger either, as that marque ingredient makes its presence unmistakably felt too. Both were undeniably delicious, and either one would be a savior-class meal on a midsummer day when you’re feeling both unhappily hot and horribly hungry. We think they’d be especially refreshing poured over chilled somen or udon noodles.

By the way, Mujirushi says its cold curries can be eaten hot as well, so we tried heating them up to see how that would affect the eating experience. While their texture doesn’t change at all, heating them seems to somehow soften their spiciness. They still taste good, but if you want the full force of their flavor, eating them cold really is the way to go.

Still, now that we know heating the cold curries doesn’t ruin them, we might have to include them the next time we’re making a super curry out of all the 50-plus curry varieties that Mujirushi sells.

Photos © SoraNews24
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