How to Make the Ultimate Japanese Comfort Food - Omurice!

5:00 PM May 11, 2020

Have you ever heard of omurice? Its a Japanese fusion food combining Western and Eastern cuisine into one! The word “omurice” comes from combing “omelette” and “rice” together in katakana, the Japanese alphabet used for writing foreign words. Omurice is a light and fluffy omelette stuffed with fried rice, usually with vegetables, and topped with ketchup! Of course, there are a lot of variations on this base, but if you want to enjoy the most traditional style of omurice, we recommend trying this kind first. Today we are going to show you how easy it is to make at home!

Why Eat Omurice Now?

You might be wondering why now is the perfect time to make omurice. Well, not only is it a great comfort food (and we all need a bit of comfort at home right now, let’s face it), its also an otaku staple! Omurice is affordable, uses easy-to-find ingredients, and doesn’t take very long to make a filling meal that is easy to digest. It’s commonly known as a food to enjoy at home with your family in Japan and even finicky eaters tend to like it as long as they like eggs.

Because of this, omurice is one of the most popular items to find in Japanese maid cafes! Maid cafe culture is meant to make you feel like you’re being served at home, and omurice is the specialty at many of these establishments in Japan. The added bonus of getting omurice at a maid cafe is that you can usually ask the maid to draw you a picture in ketchup on your meal, but don’t worry, you can do that at home, too!

Not only is omurice comforting and filling to eat in this stressful time in our lives, but it also can make you feel like you’re enjoying a piece of Japanese otaku culture right in your home!

Simple Omurice (Japanese-style Rice Omelette)

Makes: ( 2 servings )

What you need:

2 large

eggs

milk of choice

2 tbsp

olive oil

3 tbsp

cheese (we recommend cheddar but you can use your favourite!)

6 tbsp shredded

onion

1/2

your choice, with large vegetables cut into small pieces (frozen ones are easiest, but defrost them first). The most traditional omurice veggies are carrots, peas, and corn.

1/2 cup mixed vegetables

rice

1 1/2 cups cooked

ketchup

1 tbsp

soy sauce

1 tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

How to make:

1
First, in a large pan, sauté the onion with 1 tbsp of olive oil until the onion gets soft.
2
Add your mixed vegetables and cook along with the onion. You can season them with salt and pepper according to your tastes, so taste them along the way.
3
Add the cooked rice, breaking it up into small chunks with the vegetables. When the rice begins to brown just a little, add the ketchup and soy sauce and mix them thoroughly with everything in the pan. It should all be a brownish red colour when its ready! Put the vegetables and rice in another bowl and set it to the side.
4
In a small bowl, whisk together one egg and 1 tbsp of milk. It should be full of air to achieve the true fluffy omurice texture!
5
Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil in the pan, being careful to coat the entire bottom of the pan with oil. Pour the egg mixture slowly into the pan so that it creates a thin layer over the entire bottom.
6
When the bottom of the egg is cooked but the top is still a little soft, add half of the cheese to one side of the egg and let it begin to melt. Add half of your fried rice and veggies mixture.
7
Using a spatula, fold both sides of the omelette to cover the fried rice once the egg is finished cooking. Get a plate ready, and flip the omurice over from the pan onto the plate. The fried rice should be on the bottom and the omelette on the top. [This might take some practise so don’t give up if it doesn’t work the first time; it will still taste good even if it doesn’t stay perfectly together!]
8
If you are making two omurice servings now, repeat with the remaining ingredients from step 4. Otherwise, you can keep the rest of your fried rice for another day.
9
Finally, add ketchup to the top of your omurice and enjoy it! If you want to feel like you’re in a maid cafe, you can try drawing a picture or writing a message on your omurice. If you just want to feel like you’re having a relaxing meal at home, though, you can add the ketchup however you want. Tuck in!

Yum!

Final Thought

After you master this original omurice recipe, feel free to mix it up. You can add different vegetables, mushrooms, and meat to change the flavour. You can also try it with a demi-glaze sauce instead of ketchup, or whatever condiment you wan. Omurice is great for every season, doesn’t take very long to make, is made from inexpensive ingredients, and is really filling and satisfying. Its easy to see why its a popular Japanese comfort food, so take advantage of that knowledge and add it into your own cooking repertoire!

Have you ever had omurice before? Have you ever cooked it? Are you going to try to cook it now? Have you changed our recipe any? How did your omurice come out when you did try it? We would love to hear from you in the comments!

Writer

Author: Jet Nebula

Living the dream in Tokyo, where you can find me working at a theme café catered towards women. When I’m not writing for Honey’s, I’m working on original dystopian science fiction or blogging about Tokyo’s trendy coffee scene. I spend my free time in Harajuku and Shibuya wearing alternative Japanese street fashion. I love video games, J-rock, tattoos, and Star Wars.

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