Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelet)

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Difficulty: Intermediate

Servings: 2 Servings

ne of the most impressive dishes you can make with eggs is tamagoyaki, a Japanese rolled omelet made by repeatedly rolling thin layers of cooked eggs. It’s one of my favorite Japanese egg dishes to make (along with tamago kake gohan).

Unlike the similar Korean rolled omelet (geyran mari), which leans more savory and salty, and with different vegetables and fillings like scallions and seaweed, tamagoyaki draws sweet flavors from seasonings like mirin and sugar and keeps the focus on the pure flavor of the eggs.

Ingredients

Eggs: The word “tamago” means egg in Japanese. My recipe for tamagoyaki calls for six eggs, which yields many layers, but you can use as little as three eggs if you don’t want to repeat the rolling process a lot.
Mirin (Japanese rice wine): Adds a punch of sweet and umami flavors.
Granulated sugar: A combination of mirin and sugar brings a well-rounded sweetness to the dish.
Hondashi: Hondashi is a powdered seasoning that turns water into dashi, a base stock used in Japanese home cooking. Traditionally, dashi is made with kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). Using a little bit of hondashi in the recipe cuts the need to make dashi from scratch.
Toasted sesame oil: A small drop of toasted sesame oil adds a beautiful, nutty flavor. You can skip this ingredient if you don’t have it. 
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon hondashi (powdered bonito stock or dashi base)
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Cooking spray or 1 teaspoon neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable

Instructions

Place 6 large eggs, 1 tablespoon mirin, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon hondashi, and 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil in a medium bowl. Whisk with chopsticks or a fork until no streaks of egg white remain.
Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into another bowl, swirling the strainer occasionally (this might take a few minutes). Discard the contents of the strainer.
Heat a tamagoyaki pan or medium nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Coat the pan with a thin layer of cooking spray or 1 teaspoon neutral oil. Pour a thin layer of the egg mixture into the pan (about 3 tablespoons), quickly tilting the pan so that the egg mixture covers the entire surface.
Cook until the egg mixture is almost set (about 80%), 3 to 4 minutes. Roll it up: Start at one short end of the tamagoyaki pan furthest away from you, and, using chopsticks or two flexible spatulas, roll it down on itself toward you. Slide the rolled omelet to the top of the tamagoyaki pan. (For a round pan, just roll up from one side to the other.)
Pour another thin layer of egg mixture into the pan, lifting the already-rolled portion up to let the mixture flow underneath. Repeat cooking and rolling until you use up the egg mixture (5 to 6 batches).
Transfer the omelet seam-side down to a cutting board. Let cool for 5 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch or 1-inch-wide pieces.