Omurice (Omelette Rice)

Soft, fluffy eggs over buttery chicken fried rice

Omurice Recipe

makes 2 servings

Ingredients

Omurice

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup yellow onion, diced

1 cup boneless chicken, diced

2 cups cooked short grain rice²

2 tsp black bean soy sauce

¼ tsp mirin

1 green onion, sliced thinly

kosher salt, to taste

white pepper, to taste

4 large eggs

½ tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp parsley, minced

Demi-glace sauce

1½ tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp katsu sauce

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp water

Directions

First, make the demi-glace sauce. In a saucepan, mix the tomato paste, katsu sauce, honey, and water over medium heat. When the mixture is thoroughly combined, remove from heat and transfer into a pouring container.

Mix together the soy sauce and mirin in a small bowl. Set aside. 

Heat up large cooking pan on medium heat; when heated, put a bit of cooking oil and half the butter in the pan. Throw the onion in and sauté the onion until translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the onions do not brown.

When the a few of the pieces of the onions start to look like they’re about to start browning, toss in the rice, diced chicken¹, and the other half of the butter. As the rice softens, keep tossing and mixing. When well mixed, pour in the soy sauce mixture and toss until the rice is evenly brown. Then, add the green onions and sprinkle in some kosher salt and white pepper³. Toss the rice until everything is evenly combined, about a minute, before removing from heat. 

Mold the fried rice using small bowls. Scoop the rice into the bowl and pack it in. Set aside.

Beat two eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Omurice is best made with individual portions, so each serving will require a fresh egg omelette cooked separately.

In a small pan, heat up a pan with some oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the two beaten eggs and immediately use chopsticks to stir and scramble. When the egg is about halfway cooked, about 30 seconds, evenly distribute the egg across the surface of the pan. Let the eggs cook for 5-10 seconds. Loosen the edges of the omelette from the pan using your chopsticks, then, starting from the edge opposite of the handle, fold the omelette up about 1-inch. Remove the pan from the stove and hold the handle securely with your dominant hand. Use your other hand to briskly tap the top of your wrist to gently roll the omelette over itself. This must be done quickly so that the seam can be sealed while the pan is still hot.

Drop the molded rice from the bowl onto a large plate. Gently roll the omelette out of the pan and on top of the rice. Slice open the egg lengthwise so that the soft scrambled eggs will pour out over the rice before drizzling demi-glace and sprinkling the minced parsley over the egg. Serve immediately, and repeat the steps above for the second omelette.

Notes

1. If you don’t have leftover chicken on hand, raw chicken is usually used in most omurice recipes. Instead of throwing in the chicken with the rice as noted above, cook the diced raw chicken with the onion until no longer pink before adding the rice and butter.

2. Leftover rice works better for this recipe, because fresh steamed rice could result in soggy fried rice.

3. White pepper is the key to this! Be careful with how much is added; even a little too much can be overwhelming, but too little means it there won’t be much of a difference in taste. I usually add a little bit at a time and taste and adjust until I am happy with it.