Japanese Curry Omurice

This is the perfect lazy weekend lunch. The recipe is super simple - all you need are eggs, rice and curry. I love Japanese curry but I find the boxed dried curry roux takes too long to cook and requires a lot of prep. I like the individually portioned pre-packaged curry that you just heat up and serve with rice. This recipe also works best if you have leftover rice to save time, but if you don’t you can quickly substitute with minute rice or those microwaveable rice packs from college. You can totally skip the tomatoes and spring onion of course. I added them for garnish to make the dish look more camera-ready. This dish took around 5 minutes from start to finish. I hope this will inspire you to cook something other than Shin Ramen when you’re hungover!

Sieve the whisked eggs to get a smoother consistency.

Not the most attractive looking omurice out there oops

Plate it ugly side down!

Japanese Curry Omurice

For 1

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil for the pan
Pinch of salt
1 cup cooked rice (Japanese rice would be ideal but normal long grain rice will do just fine. If cold, reheat in microwave first)
1 package ready-to-eat Japanese curry (like these, not the dried boxed kind)

Method

1. Boil water in a pan and submerge the pre-packaged curry to heat up its contents.
2. Whisk the eggs together and run them through a sieve and into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt.
3. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the pan and lower the heat to medium low.
4. When the egg has begun to set (this will take less than a minute), spoon the warmed cooked rice onto one side of the egg. Using a spatula, carefully fold the other side of the egg on top of the rice to make an omelette (aka OMURICE!). Cook for a few more seconds.
5. Plate the omurice and carefully pour the heated curry over it. Garnish with whatever you have on hand - something with acidity would be great, like Japanese pickled vegetables!

Gyudon Beef Bowl

I've always wanted to make my own gyudon. Gyudon translates to beef (gyu) bowl (don). It is such an unmistakably Japanese dish. I think the secret of a good gyudon lies in the sweet sauce that the beef cooks in. Of course, higher quality/marbling of beef will also elevate the dish, but the combination and ratio of soy, sugar, mirin and wine is the key in making this the ultimate Japanese comfort food. I found this easy recipe from Harumi Kurihara's cookbook I bought almost 10 years ago. She's like the Martha Stewart of Japan, minus the tax evasion. The sauce came out just right - sweet with depths of flavour from the soy and mirin. 

Slice the onion into thin half-moons.

I got pre-sliced beef at the supermarket intended for sukiyaki or hot pot.

I used white wine, but you can also use Chinese cooking wine or sake.

It is important to use Japanese soy sauce as it is sweeter than its Chinese counterpart and also has a thinner and clearer consistency.

Bring the wine and water to a boil.

Simmer the beef and skim the scum off the top.

Add the soy sauce, sugar and mirin.

 Add the onions. The original recipe called for an otoshibuta, which is a light-weight wooden drop lid placed directly on top of simmering food to distribute heat evenly. I didn't have one, so I improvised and used the lid from a smaller pan. Cook until the onions are soft.

The beef and onions soaked up all the delicious sweet and savoury flavours. I think I will add an onsen egg next time for its silky richness!

Recipe - adapted from Harumi's Japanese Cooking

For 2

Ingredients

½ cup white wine

¼ cup of water

½ an onion

250g thinly sliced beef

¼ cup Japanese soy sauce

¼ cup mirin

2 tablespoons caster sugar

2 servings of cooked Japanese rice, kept warm 

Method

1. Slice the onions into thin half moon shapes.
2. In a saucepan (I used a frying pan), add the water and the wine. When it comes to a boil, simmer the beef for 2 minutes. Skim the scum off the top. 
3. Add the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Mix well.
4. Add the onions and cover with the lid of a smaller pan, until onions are soft.
5. Spoon the beef and onion mixture on top of rice and drizzle with pan juices.