Omurice (Omelette Rice)

I love Omurice. On my first ever trip to Japan, I remember I could hardly eat any Japanese food. There were only a few things I liked and Omurice was one of them. It was a life saver for me during those days. It was a friend and his wife who introduced me to about 13 years ago. They took me to a famous Omurice restaurant somewhere near Shinbashi (I believe. I am unable to recall the name but will find out and let you know in case you want to check it out) Since then, I try to have it every once in a while when I go out for lunch but this is the first time I have tried making it at home. It turned out well. I have to work on the Omelette though as it takes a wee bit of practice but overall it was OK. I am sharing the recipe. Hope you like it!! :)



Serves: 2
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Omelette

• Eggs- 2 large
• Cream - 50 g
• Butter: 1/2 tbsp
• Salt as per your taste*

For the Onion Tomato Sauce

• Onion - Half (Medium sized onion)
• Tomato: 1 (large)
• Garlic: 2-3 cloves
• Ketchup - 2 tbsp
• Salt + Pepper as per your taste*

For the Rice Mix

• Chicken: 120 g (Cooked)
• Rice: 200 g (cooked)
• Vegetable Oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt as per your taste*
• Vegetables
• Carrot:: 1/2 cup (finely diced)
• Spring Onions: 1/ cup (thin slices)
• Mushrooms: 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
• Capsicum: 2 medium sized (finely chopped)

* Since you are going to use salt in the egg, onion tomato sauce and the rice mix, make sure you balance the amount or your omurice will end up having too much salt in it. 

Directions: 

• Cook the chicken and keep aside. (I pressure cooked the chicken along with carrot, mushrooms and capsicum but you don't need to cook the vegetables separately. You can always fry/saute them along with the spring onions later. I do it for my little one so that it is easier for him to eat) 

• In a blender, blend the onions, tomatoes, garlic and salt together. This will make a fine onion tomato paste. Pour this into a heated pan, add about 2 tbsp of ketchup and saute till the mixture becomes thick. Remove and keep aside. 

• In a bowl, mix thoroughly the eggs, cream and salt and pepper and keep aside. 

• Now we are done with the preparation. It is time to start making our omurice. In a pan, heat oil over medium heat and add the spring onions and saute till they become transparent. If you are not boiling the vegetables along with the chicken in the first step, you can add the vegetables too and saute along with the spring onions. I added the boiled vegetables from step one. 

• Add the cooked rice and the onion tomato paste prepared earlier and mix well. Saute for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once done, put half of this (one serving) on a serving plate.

• In a pan, heat the butter and add the egg and cream mixture. Keep the flame on low. The idea is to cook the omelette till it is not runny any more and the top surface still appears wet. If  you see in my pics, I overcooked it slightly but I guess you will get better with time (this was my first time too :)) 

• Slide this over the rice on the plate and pour some onion tomato paste (prepared earlier) over it. Garnish with parsley and serve hot. 

Notes:

• You can use vegetables of your choice and need not stick to the veggies that I have used.
• I pressure cooked my chicken and vegetables but you can directly fry them along with the spring onions directly. That will give you a more crunchier taste I believe. In case you omit step one and directly fry it, make sure you saute the chicken first for a few minutes and cook it properly before you add the vegetables. You don't want to add the chicken later and end up burning the vegetables trying to cook the chicken properly.