Tamagoyaki Brunch

Unlike last week’s Fool’s Gold Loaf ( https://canigetaramen.food.blog/2019/08/15/poor-mans-fools-gold-loaf/) post which we recommended trying only a small taste of, this is something we eat regularly for breakfast or lunch, albeit, an Americanized version; a Japanese classic: Tamagoyaki. When done correctly, Tamagoyaki is a Japanese rolled omelette with soy sauce, mirin, sugar and salt. In our house it is often just eggs, salt, pepper. For the post, we decided to try to make a more authentic version, so we checked out some Pinterest posts and landed on one in particular from Chopstick Chronicles, another food blog which specializes in Japanese cuisine. https://www.chopstickchronicles.com/tamagoyaki/

Tamagoyaki Japanese rolled egg

This gave us a wealth of information on Tamagoyaki, and cooking techniques which were different from the ones we had used previously. We also watched an episode of Make it Big by Tasty on YouTube, which the boys are huge fans of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syH0oN_B4g0

We learned a few tips and tricks to roll the Tamagoyaki, plus which utensils and pans work best; and while we did not use 120 eggs for our rolled omelet, we did go through at least 2 dozen to get it what we considered was “right”.

Usually we will whip up four eggs, splash in a little milk, cook and roll, if I don’t have mirin (rice wine vinegar) on hand. This time I made sure I had both soy sauce and mirin so we could make it a little more authentic. It changes the texture more than I had remembered so it did not roll as easily as an Americanized omelette. It took us a few tries to make the necessary adjustments and get it how we wanted. We had a debate over which pan was best, which the kids won, as proven by the success of the third omelette. I was convinced that the smaller, more square pan would produce thinner layers, thus achieving a flakier, more-layered omelette. I was so wrong and the omelette burned very easily. After two failed attempts I finally listened to the advice of the boys, which worked out wonderfully for the eggs, but not so much for my ego.

With a little forethought, that which we are generally lacking, we had tossed some rice in the rice cooker a few minutes before we started prepping the Tamagoyaki, so all we had left to do was plate it, top with salmon, cucumber, and avocado and try to make it look pretty.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 8 Eggs, cracked and whisked.
• 2 and a quarter cup of rice.
• Water, 3 cups.
• Soy sauce and mirin.
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• A pinch of salt to taste.
• Smoked Salmon.
• 1 Avocado, one half is best.
• 1 Cucumber.

It’s easiest to set up your rice in the rice cooker first and then work on your omelette while that cooks. Whisk your eight eggs together and add a splash of soy sauce and mirin, mixing them into the eggs thoroughly. Once this concoction is well mixed, add one teaspoon of sugar and let it melt and dissolve. Pour half the mixture into an eleven inch, square pan or small griddle pan and allow to cook most of the way through. Next, you want to carefully, but briskly roll it to one side and repeat for the next batch of eggs. From here, you’ll want to take your previous roll and place it to one side of the pan, rolling the new layer of egg over-top of it, allowing it to cook and roll again. When done slice it into six pieces and plate. Scoop your rice onto a plate with ice cream scoop, and top it off with a slice of smoked salmon, avocado and cucumber as desired. Enjoy!

So, what do you think? Have you tried to make Tamagoyaki before? If so, have you tried it with rice? When you inevitably do, please let us know what you think in the comments section below.