For those of you who may not know of it, "omuraisu" is a Japanese dish of fried rice, topped with a soft omelet and demi-glace sauce. One cuts into the omelet and the custardy egg curds cascade beautifully down the sides of the dish. This technique, I decided, was more than my lunchtime skills could handle, so I made a cheat's version which, while not so aesthetically pleasing as the real thing, was quite tasty in its own right.
I used the remains of last night's yellow rice for this dish, but plain rice works very well indeed. I used peas and peppers, but the sky is the limit - - chopped chicken, shrimp, ham, roast vegetables...this is a good vehicle for leftovers. I also used a non-stick pan in order to limit the amount of oil that I needed to use.
I have attached a video from YouTube below which shows why I might have felt that this technique was beyond me...If you are pressed for time, skip to the seven minute mark which shows the final showstopper portion of the omelet.
2 eggs
1 cup cooked rice, I used leftovers from last night's dinner
2 Tbsps chopped onions
1/4 cup shelled edamame or peas
1/4 cup of whatever else you want to add to the mix
2 tsps olive oil
Generous pinch of ground white pepper
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp tonkatsu sauce *
Measure half of the oil into a skillet along with the chopped onion, whatever you are adding to the rice in terms of chopped meat and/or veggies, and the peas/edamame straight from the freezer. Turn the heat to medium, and fry, stirring often, until the onions are translucent and starting to caramelize a bit at the edges. The peas will give off a tiny bit of water as they defreeze in the pan, which will serve to rehydrate last night's rice when you add it to the pan.
As soon as the onions start to brown around the edges, add the rice, and stir to combine with the other ingredients. Stir in half of the tonkatsu sauce. Lower the heat and allow the rice to get heated all the way through while you beat the two eggs together in a bowl along with two teaspoons of water. I did not salt my eggs because I felt the rice was salty enough, but feel free to do so if you prefer.
Once the rice is hot, move it so that it only occupies half of the pan. Add the remaining oil to the now empty half of the pan and, as soon as it shimmers, pour in the beaten eggs and raise the heat back up to medium.
Using chopsticks or a spoon, continue to stir the eggs until small curds form and allow the egg to cook until the curds are custardy and nearly set.
At that point spoon the rice over to the top of the omelet and then invert the pan over a dinner plate.
Drizzle with the remaining tonkatsu sauce and inhale...
* If you do not have tonkatsu sauce on hand, you can make a dupe by combining one tablespoon ketchup, one and a half tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, two teaspoons of oyster sauce and a teaspoon of brown sugar together. Or just use ketchup -- the dish will not taste exactly the same, but it will still be pretty darn tasty,
This was a six minute and twenty two seconds to the table dish.