I saw this dish being served at a restaurant when I visited Japan. I later learned that this is a western-influenced dish (Yoshoku) invented over 100 years ago in Japan. It seems to be very popular over there. After I came back from the trip, in a couple of years, I only tried to make the dish once. When I saw the dish in “Midnight Diner”, I decided to cook it again as I was looking for some quick, tasty and nutritious one-bowl dish for kids.
Without the omelette, this is another popular Japanese dish, chicken rice. Unlike common recipes, I take out mushrooms, carrot, tomato puree (paste), and other items to keep the ingredients as simple as possible while keep the spirit of the dish, sweet and sour flavor and red color from ketchup.
If you search Youtube, you would find there are a couple of ways of making the egg topping to go with the dish. You can make your omelette soft and unfolded and simply drape it over the rice on a plate. To make it fancier, some people use relatively large amounts of egg liquid and stir in the center to make a whirl on top of the rice. You also see people make a soft-centered French omelette and place it on top of the rice. They would cut the egg and let it open and roll over the rice. In this recipe, I simply cook the egg omelette a little firmer than the first way and use it to wrap the rice. Both the first and third method are easy to handle.
Whatever way you cook it, this dish has proteins, some veggies, carbs, and a red, bright sunny color.
Omurice / Omelette Rice蛋卷饭（オムライスの）
Equipment
- 12“ frying pan
- 6“ frying pan
Ingredients
- 2.5 cup cooked short grain rice
- 6-7 oz chicken breast
- 1/2 onion
- 1-2 egg(s)
- 1/4 cup shelled edamame
- 4-5 tbsp ketchup5
- 1-2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Precook some short grain rice, and chill in refrigerator overnight
- Mince the chicken breast and onion to 1/3" x 1/3" pieces1
- Rinse the frozen edamame with water, and whisk the egg(s)2
- Turn heat to high. To the 12" pan, add 1-2 tbsp oil. Once oil is warm, add the minced chicken and stir
- Once the chicken is cooked, add the minced onion and stir
- When the onion becomes translucent, add salt and half of the ketchup, and stir at medium to high heat.
- When ketchup mixed with the chicken/onion, add the rice.
- While mixing in the rice, use a spatula to press and break rice chunks. When all grains are loose, add the other half of ketchup, and continue mixing for 3-5 mins.
- Add the edamame and mix. Taste and adjust with salt if necessary. Set the cooked chicken rice aside.
- At low to medium heat, to the 6" pan, add 1 tsp oil.
- When the pan and oil are warm, add the whisked egg.3
- When the egg almost solidified, place a 1/3 cup of chicken rice onto the egg wrap.3
- Use the spatula to fold one side of the egg wrap. Put the spatula underneath the wrap and flip slowly to make sure all rice is included under the egg wrap. 4
- Tilt the pan toward a plate and slowly slide the egg wrap to the plate. Squeeze some ketchup on the egg wrap to decorate.
Video
Notes
- You can replace chicken with shrimp, ham, or other meat.
- Most recipes use sweet peas. I don't keep peas in my refrigerator. I used edamame instead as I like it more than peas from a nutritional standpoint.
- If you want to make a larger piece, you can use two eggs and use a larger frying pan with more rice.
- To make the egg wrap softer, keep the heat low to medium, and add a 1-2 tbsp milk or water to the egg. You want to add rice, and start folding while there is a little egg liquid.
- Besides ketchup, people also use tomato sauce.
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