🥟 Kare pan (curry bread)
Kare pan is Japanese curry bread: a soft yeast dough wrapped around thick curry, rolled in panko and deep-fried until crisp and golden. The outside crunches, the bread inside is fluffy and the filling is mildly spiced and slightly sweet. It is sold warm in bakeries and convenience stores and eaten as a snack or quick lunch.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g bread dough (flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt)
- 300 g thick vegetable curry (potato, carrot, onion), cooled
- 3 tbsp flour mixed with 4 tbsp water
- 80 g panko breadcrumbs
- Oil for deep-frying
Method
- Let the dough rise until doubled, then divide into 8 balls.
- Flatten each ball, spoon in 2 tbsp cold curry and pinch the edges tightly closed.
- Dip in the flour-water paste and roll in panko.
- Leave to rise for 20 minutes.
- Deep-fry at 170 °C for 3–4 minutes per side until golden, then drain on paper.
How to make it lighter
- Bake instead of frying: spray with a little oil and bake at 200 °C for 15 minutes.
- Make smaller buns and pack the curry with extra vegetables.
- Drain well on paper towels — fried bread soaks up oil quickly.
History
Curry bread is widely credited to a Tokyo bakery in the late 1920s, though the claim is disputed. It became one of Japan's best-loved savoury breads and even has its own cartoon character.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →