rehydrate soy curls in mushroom granules and water (10-15 minutes). squeeze out all excess liquid.
heat a good glug of oil in pan, sautée soy curls until they are browned and then remove from pan.
without cleaning pan (add more oil if necessary) add onion and sautée for 5-10 minutes, or longer to caramelize if you've got time. add garlic, ginger and white parts of green onions and cook for additional 1 min
deglaze with dark soy sauce and scrape up bottom of pan.
add kombu daishi/water to fill the dutch oven about ½ full, plus mirin, ketchup, worchestershire sauce, cocoa powder, carrots and potato.
simmer until potato and carrot are cooked through. add peas, frozen corn (alternately, you can just skip the carrot earlier and add frozen or canned mixed veg at this step)
chop up the curry block so it dissolves better and add it in, it should thicken up.
serve with short rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds/furikake, green onion, mayo, fukujinzuke (japanese pickles)
The first 2 steps with the soy curls are optional. If i'm not using soy curls, I'll usually serve this with katsu tofu, or add some chickpeas into the curry for protein. Endlessly riffable but this is my ideal version.
