My first time apartment hunting in Japan didn’t go so well. I ended up in a bunker so cramped that the only fridge I could fit inside could hold a carton of milk, a carton of orange juice, a tube of wasabi, and honestly not a whole lot more. By necessity, I subsisted on a cornucopia of non-perishables, often microwavable rice, topped with the contents of a pouch of instant curry from the convenience store down the street. It wasn’t gourmet, but it was a hot meal I could prepare in about the time it took to take off my suit and hang it up nicely.
But as simple as that was to make, Nissin Foods now has something even easier: instant curry and rice all in the same container.
Nissin is best known as the maker of the mega-popular Cup Noodle line of instant ramen. Despite Japan’s traditional esteem for painstakingly created dishes with understated flavors, the fact of the matter is that even here, you’ll never go broke offering people a quick, hot, salty meal. Nissin is generally held in high-esteem, and there’s even a museum located in Yokohama dedicated to its production techniques.
In 2010, the company branched out with its confusingly named Cup Noodle Rice product line, a series of instant rice pilaf-like rice dishes featuring the same flavors as its Cup Noodle products. Cup Noodle Rice has become a major hit, racking up four billion yen (US $40 million) in annual sales.
On September 2, Nissin released its newest offering, called Cup Curry Rice.
While packs of microwavable white rice and instant curry roux have both been available for years in Japan, until now they were always packaged, and had to be cooked, separately. Not so with Cup Curry Rice. Just add water to the container, stick the whole thing in the microwave for five and a half minutes, and you’re good to go, making it the perfect choice for busy people, lazy people, and especially busy, lazy people.
▼ “You know, I really should try to get in two or three more naps today.”
▼ Absolutely everything you need to do to make Cup Curry Rice
Nissin hopes its launch of Cup Curry Rice will help revive the instant curry market, which has been in a period of stagnation since peaking in 2010.
Three varieties of beef curry will be available: mild, medium, and spicy. In keeping with orthodox Japanese curry standards, the Cup Curry Rice contains diced meat, carrots, and potatoes.
A container of Cup Curry Rice sells for 218 yen, making it cheaper than a trip to the local beef bowl joint. Unsurprisingly, Nissin expects sales of two billion yen a year, with the target market being single males, between the ages of 10 ad 39. Naturally.
Sources: Sankei News, Nissin Foods
Insert images: Nissin Foods