Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette)

Tamagoyaki is a staple of sushi menus, bento boxes, and home-cooked breakfasts alike. Thin layers and the addition of dashi and sugar make this omelette quite different from it’s western counterparts.

What is Tamagoyaki?

Tamagoyaki is a Japanese rolled omelette made by cooking thin sheets of egg in a rectangular pan, and rolling the sheets over each other.

The name is a compount word comprised of the japanese word for “egg” (tamago) and “grilled/pan-fried” (yaki).

While tamagoyaki’s flavor can vary slightly region-to-region, it is often subtly sweet, not excessively, but sweeter than the omelettes you may be used to.

Ingredients For Tamagoyaki

Eggs – The base of any omelet, farm fresh will give you the best flavor and color

Dashi – Many Japanese egg recipes use a fair amount of dashi such as oyakodon, chawanmushi, tanindon, and katsudon. If you don’t know much about dashi, read all about it here.

Sugar – A pinch of sugar gives tamagoyaki a distinctive sweetness. No

Salt – A pinch to balance out the flavor of the omelet.

Special Equipment to Make Tamagoyaki

For this dish, one specific tool makes the job so much easier, but it is not a necessity.

Usually, tamagoyaki is made in a tamgoyaki-nabe, or tamagoyaki pan. It’s a rectangular pan with straight sides and and a handle on one of the short sides.

You can find these pans made out out of different metals such as copper or aluminum and they often come with a nonstick coating to make flipping easier.

I use this tamagoyaki pan, which I received as a birthday gift from my sister.

This set comes with all the necessities including the pan itself, a rectangular serving plate, beautiful wooden chopsticks, and a silicon spatula.

The spatula makes this set perfect for beginners since it takes a little bit of practice to perfect the chopstick method.

How to Make Tamagoyaki

The process is simple, but it takes practice to make it look really good.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 c. of dashi
• 1 tsp. of sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 2 tsp. of oil

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients (except for the oil) in a small bowl. Beat with a whisk, immersion blender, or a pair of chopsticks until it is very smooth.

2. Run the egg mixture through a fine mesh strainer. This step is optional, but will make your finished omelette more homogeneous.

3. Heat a tamagoyaki pan over medium-low heat, then use a pastry brush or chopsticks and a paper towel to spread a thin layer of oil on the pan’s surface (including the sides).

4. Add about 1/5 of the egg mixture to the pan and swirl it around into one even layer. Cook this for a few seconds until it begins to bubble and peel from the sides.

5. Use chopsticks or a spatula to push the edge of the egg off the sides, then starting with the end opposite of you, roll the sheet of egg over itself by flipping the egg with the pan while simultaneously pushing with chopsticks. This is the most difficult part of the process.

6. Once the first sheet of egg has been rolled, push the rolled egg to the far side of the pan, re-oil the pan, then pour in another layer of egg. Tilt the pan so that the egg spreads all around the pan, including under the already cooked egg.

7. Once the second layer is cooked repeat the flipping and rolling process, then push the roll to the far end again.

8. Repeat the steps until all the egg is cooked, then remove the omelette from the pan and place on a bamboo mat lined with a paper towel.

9. Wrap the mat tightly around the tamagoyaki then let it rest, wrapped, on the counter top for 5 minutes.

10. After the resting time, remove the mat and cut the tamagoyaki into 5 pieces.

11. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of shichimi togarashi, or store in the fridge for up to 5 days and serve at room temperature.