I think “Omurice” is one of the sweetest Japanized Western dishes, not only because of the sweetness of the ketchup rice, but also because it’s served as a token of affection.
“Omurice” is an abbreviation for “Omelette rice”—an omelette over rice cooked with ketchup. This simple dish is often made at home for lunch, and there are also restaurants specializing in only omurice. They might have 20 kinds of omurice, each with different sauces and rice cooked with other seasonings.
Omurice is always ranked as one of the top three dishes which girls want to make for their boyfriends (or the dish that boys want their girlfriends to cook for them).
Why?
Because you can write a message with ketchup on your omurice!
In Japan, writing “LOVE” on omurice is the one of the things on your list when the girl gets your first boyfriend.
Actually, you can write whatever you want on your omurice! It is actually a good opportunity to tell the kids, “Do the Homework”, or to your husband, “Buy Me a Dress”!
Omurice is a quick dish with ingredients you usually have in your kitchen: eggs, rice, ketchup, onions, and ham or bacon. That’s why the omurice is a pretty popular lunch dish in Japan.
Making omurice is fairly easy once you get used to making it, like an omelette! You need to cook the egg at the right temperature and pick it up at your favorite doneness.
The most difficult part is wrapping the rice with the omelette.
The tip is to be quick and use high heat. Once you melt the butter, pour the egg mixture in the pan over high heat. Stir with chopsticks.
When the bottom of the egg mixture firms up and the top is half-way cooked, turn off heat and place rice on the middle of the omelette.
Now, change chopsticks to the lubber spatula, fold up the omelette.
When rice is wrapped with omelette, tilt the pan and slide off the omurice to the tip of the pan. You can turn on the heat; it gets easy slippery of omurice.
Flip the pan on the plate.
What if fail? No problem, just make a heart mark with ketchup. A perfect and lovely meal is there!
- 2 slices bacon, finely chopped
- 1/4 ea onion, cut into small dice
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup cooked Japanese rice
- 3 ea eggs
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
- To make ketchup rice: Cook bacon until crisp and add onions. Add ketchup, butter, and rice. Stir fry. Season with salt and pepper. Set it aside.
- To make a omelette: In a bowl, beat eggs with milk, salt and pepper. Heat a butter in a pan, pour the egg mixture. Stir with chopsticks over high heat. Once the bottom of egg mixture firms up and the top is half way cooked, turn off heat.
- Place ketchup rice on the middle of omelette. Using a spatula, carefully fold up the each side of omelette over rice. Tilt a pan, and slide off omurice. Flip a pan on a plate.
- Write a message with ketchup on omurice.
I’ve actually never had it with bacon before! I’m already imagining that bacon-y aroma ????????????☺️????????!
Bacon never fails!!! I think the saltiness of bacon goes well with the sweetness of ketchup. My mom likes a ham because it is cheaper and already cooked, so quick to make. Chicken is common too!