Japanese Venison Stew

We had a piece of back saddle in the freezer from my trip down south last year - shot by Bill Henderson in Hasst - and some Sika from another friend Scotty up in the North island.

Scotty enjoys his fishing too, he smokes his own and always brings up some bottled trout when visiting, of which I  devour on classic Huntly & Palmers crackers.

Back to the stew - Gazza decided we would honour the Sika component and make a Japanese curried stew. The most popular Japanese curries are sweet, ours was the savoury type and store bought. Although it was classed as hot, it was nothing compared to an Indian hot curry. Very flavorsome though and this dish was a great success.
The recipe is for a slow cooker but can be done in the oven:

Ingredients:
1 kilo venison
2 large onions
4-5 TB olive oil or good quality cooking oil
5 carrots
5 medium red jacket potatoes
Packet of good quality japenese curry paste (not sweet)
6 cups of water - or enough to just cover ingredients in the pot or cassreole dish for oven version.

Method:
Dice the venison (not too small about one inch cubed) and onions and saute in a pan with the oil until browned.
Mix the curry to a smoothe paste (ours came in a cake) with one cup of boiling water before adding to the slow cooker - read the instructions on your packet in case differs!
Peel and chop the carrots and potatoes and add to the crockpot along with the sauteed venison and onion.

Add the remaining 5 cups of water, put the lid on and slow cook for about 6-7 hours. Dont be tempted to take the lid off for the first 4 hours of cooking the heat will instantly disappear and you don't need to stir it, just check the potatoes are done, you want them firm not turning to mush -  that's when you want to turn the slow cooker down to warm or low and prepare the rest of the meal.

For the oven version - which I haven't done so I take no responsibility for! Do all the above but gauge how much water you need. Once all your ingredients are in the casserole dish cook slowly on a low to medium heat until the potatoes are done. You may need to give it a stir every now and then, make sure its not sticking and has enough water.
If the gravy is too thin add some cornflour mixed with a little water for the last ten minutes of cooking, this applies to the slow cooker also.

We served the stew on a bed of fluffy rice, with a side dish of sauteed spinach and ginger sprinkled toasted sesame seeds and a decent dollop of Korean Kimchee (pickled cabbage)  a great condiment cutting through the richness of the stew nicely.

And don't forget the Saki !