For ➋-➍4 large eggs
1 tbs sugar (slightly more for cold tamagoyaki)
1 ts mirin
¼ ts salt
½ ts light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu)* or regular soy sauce
oil for cooking
(halve the quantities for a 2-egg tamagoyaki**)
extra:
20 cm non-stick frying pan
a heat resistant brush or kitchen paper, for spreading the oil
1 or 2 forks, or 1 fork and a pair of chopsticks
sushi rolling mat
a fine-meshed sieve***
Heat up the pan on medium-low heat. Make ready a small bowl of oil, and the brush or kitchen paper.
In another bowl, beat all the ingredients together with a fork or chopsticks. Don’t use a whisk since because it would foam the eggs. (Strain the egg mixture through a sieve to even it out, making a finer and more even egg mix.)***
Brush the heated pan with a little oil. Put in about 2 to 3 tbs of egg mixture in the pan. Cook gently (lower the heat if necessary) until it’s not quite set on top, but not runny. Roll it up with a fork or chopsticks to one side of the pan.
Brush the exposed part of the pan with a little oil.
Put another couple of tbs of egg mixture in the pan. Spread it around, lifting the cooked egg so that the uncooked egg flows below it.
Cook until this layer is almost set, then roll the whole egg to the opposite side of where it is.
Brush the pan again with oil. Add another couple of tbs of egg mixture in the pan, and spread around the pan and under the cooked egg.
Keep repeating this procedure until the egg mixture is used up.
Put the tamagoyaki on a moistened sushi rolling mat, seam side down.
Roll it up tightly.
Take it out, slice with a sharp knife and serve immediately with some grated daikon radish, with a tiny bit of soy sauce.
When making it for a bento box, leave the whole roll in the mat over a raised rim plate or bowl until it’s cooled to room temperature. This allows air to pass under and over it, cooling it faster. Slice into even pieces. Cut off the ends for nice cuts.
In another bowl, beat all the ingredients together with a fork or chopsticks. Don’t use a whisk since because it would foam the eggs. (Strain the egg mixture through a sieve to even it out, making a finer and more even egg mix.)***
Brush the heated pan with a little oil. Put in about 2 to 3 tbs of egg mixture in the pan. Cook gently (lower the heat if necessary) until it’s not quite set on top, but not runny. Roll it up with a fork or chopsticks to one side of the pan.
Brush the exposed part of the pan with a little oil.
Put another couple of tbs of egg mixture in the pan. Spread it around, lifting the cooked egg so that the uncooked egg flows below it.
Cook until this layer is almost set, then roll the whole egg to the opposite side of where it is.
Brush the pan again with oil. Add another couple of tbs of egg mixture in the pan, and spread around the pan and under the cooked egg.
Keep repeating this procedure until the egg mixture is used up.
Put the tamagoyaki on a moistened sushi rolling mat, seam side down.
Roll it up tightly.
Take it out, slice with a sharp knife and serve immediately with some grated daikon radish, with a tiny bit of soy sauce.
When making it for a bento box, leave the whole roll in the mat over a raised rim plate or bowl until it’s cooled to room temperature. This allows air to pass under and over it, cooling it faster. Slice into even pieces. Cut off the ends for nice cuts.
*Using light soy sauce will keep the colour pale yellow. Cook over low heat to avoid browning.
**A 2 eggs variant will be thinner.
***Optional.
'Tamagoyaki' or 'atsuyaki tamago' means fried egg in Japanese. A slightly sweeter (with some more sugar) variation is used cold in bento boxes and on sushi rolls. Vary the flavor by adding finely chopped green onion or garlic chives, or small bits of nori seaweed. Achieve a black-and-yellow spiral effect by putting torn pieces of nori over each almost-set egg layer before rolling. In Japan, a square pan would be used to make perfect rolls.
If the tamagoyaki seems a bit too runny, firm it in the microwave for about 1 m.
