Recipe: Mentai omlette

Today I am sharing this famous Tamagoyaki recipe. Fluffy!

It's a small omelette with bright yellow color, cute shape and neat layers.

Tamagoyaki is a super popular side dish in Japan, and can be a star player in bento box.Every household has different mother's recipes, and all testes delicious.

In this recipe, I use one of my favorite ingredient "mentaiko", spicy cod roe.

Mentaiko is a sack of marinated cod roe, and it's a staple for our tables.
It's got very rich flavor and paste-like texture, can be served as side dish, or condiments or seasoning.

This is how it looks.. it's delicious

Mentaiko is originated in Korea, and introduced to Fukuoka in 20th centuries. Since then,  Fukuoka, my hometown, became the place known for great mentaiko selections. Mentaiko can be purchased everywhere in Japan, and Japanese grocery stores in the US.

I loved mentaiko since I was little, and if I did not see it in the fridge, I always asked my mother to get me some. Even now, the combination of mentaiko and white rice is what I miss the most about Japanese food.

Mentaiko is good with many things..  rice, pasta, toast, noodles, salad or just by itself. Grilled mentaiko goes very well with sake. Too good.

明太卵焼き：Mentai Tamagoyaki
Omlette with Cod Roe

Ingredients:

• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Pieces Mentaiko 
• Mirin: 1tsp
• Dashi stock powder : 1/3 tsp
• Water: 2 tbsp
• Pinch of salt
• Butter for pan

Steps

1. Crack the eggs into bowl and mix gently(do not whisk hard)
2. Add mentaiko, mirin, dashi, water and salt,  and mix
3. Heat butter in a pan with low heat. Pour 1/3 of egg mixture and cook until the bottom is cooked but top is still uncooked
4. From the top of the pan, roll the omlette toward the other side of the pan(See the pic 2)
5. Push the omlette to the other side of the pan
6. Add butter to the pan, and repeat 3,4 and 5

To shape tamagoyaki, I used rectangle tamagoyaki pan which my fiance brought from Japan.. if you don't  have it, you can cook in the way you cook regular omlette. Follow step 1&2, then heat the butter and cook it the way you like.... and maybe sprinkle with chopped scallions or Parmesan cheese  ;)

Step 3 : Heat the butter and cook the egg mixture

Step 4: Roll down the omlette to the bottom

Step 5: Push over the omlette to the other side, add egg mixture and cook

Some recipes use sugar to make it sweeter, but I skipped it in this recipe and added mentaiko. If you like sweeter tamagoyaki, you can add 1 tbsp of sugar in the mixture.

Please be sure to cook with low heat, it takes time to cook throughly but it prevents omelette from burning. If you try using tamagoyaki pan, it needs a bit of practice, but you will enjoy it. Good luck!