We eat a lot of omelettes in our house: they’re the perfect solution for an impromptu dinner, and they’re also endlessly customisable, so we never get bored with them. You can add butter, beat the eggs in the pan and roll to make it French, add spices, coriander and onion to make it Indian, or mirin and soy, as in today’s dish, for a trip to Japan. You could add any condiment or pickle from mayonnaise to ketchup and chilli oil to chimichurri, and bolster the meal with bread or rice. Today’s recipe is merely one of many wonderful scenic routes on which to take your omelette.
Omelette rolls with rice, carrot pickles and wasabi mayonnaise
Simply double the quantities to serve four. Sushi rice vinegar is widely available in the UK, and has been very helpfully pre-seasoned. If you can’t find it, use regular rice vinegar and add a tablespoon of sugar when you make the sushi seasoning.
Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 2
200g sushi rice
Fine sea salt
8 tbsp sushi rice vinegar – I like Saitaku
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1-2 tsp wasabi paste, to taste
3 tbsp mayonnaise
½ tsp black sesame seeds
6 medium eggs
1 tbsp mirin
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
2½ tbsp sesame oil
First make the sushi rice. Put the rice in a saucepan for which you have a tight-fitting lid and cover with 280ml cold water. Bring to a boil, then cover, turn down the heat to a whisper and set a timer for 10 minutes. When the time is up, take the pan off the heat but leave the lid on for at least another 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make up the sushi seasoning by mixing a teaspoon of salt with four tablespoons of sushi rice vinegar. When the rice has cooled down to almost room temperature, fold in the seasoning using a wooden spoon.
To make the pickled carrots, put the carrot matchsticks in a shallow-lipped dish, pour over the remaining four tablespoons of sushi rice vinegar, sprinkle on three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and mix well.
To make the wasabi mayo, mix the mayonnaise with the wasabi paste (start with one teaspoon and add a second if you like it hotter), then sprinkle the black sesame seeds over the top.
Finally, to make the omelette rolls, crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk with the mirin, soy sauce and half a tablespoon of sesame oil. Put a tablespoon of sesame oil in a nonstick frying pan on a medium heat and, once it’s very hot, pour in half the egg mixture and cook until golden on the bottom and semi-set on top (that is, with only a little liquid egg still visible). Using a spatula, roll it up, slide out on to a plate and repeat with another tablespoon of sesame oil and the remaining beaten egg mix.
To serve, cut the omelettes into 2cm-wide rolls, place on two plates and serve with bowls of sushi rice, pickled carrots, wasabi mayo and more soy sauce nearby.