Omuraisu
Omuraisu (オムライス) is one of the most popular dishes for Japanese children and consists of a soft omelette that contains rice seasoned with ketchup, mushrooms, onions and chicken. It is truly impossible not to have seen it at least once in a manga or an anime and you can find it just as easily in Shinjuku's maid cafes. Preparing it is really simple so much so that college students cook it when they are in a hurry during lunch. Japanese cook it for their partner, often decorating the omelet with a romantic motif using ketchup. It is a yoshoku dish, born immediately after the Second World War. The first restaurants to offer it were Rengatei in Tokyo (which proposes the original recipe with egg cooked together with rice) and Hokkyokusei in Osaka (which instead proposes the classic rice enclosed in omelette). At that time, ketchup was easily available and therefore this recipe was quickly copied and performed in many other restaurants. Today omurice can be found practically everywhere, both in its classic version and in many other more elaborate ones, such as Japanese curry or meat sauce. If you want to cook more omuraisu, the advice is to make one omelette at a time. INGREDIENTS -1 portion of steamed rice - 1/2 coarsely chopped onion - 1 boneless chicken thigh cut into chunks - 2 sliced champignon mushrooms - 2 large spoons of Japanese (or normal) ketchup - oil - butter (or margarine) - 2 beaten eggs - salt - pepper
PREPARATION - Pour some oil in a pot together with a knob of butter. Once the butter has melted, add the onion and chicken. Cook well. - Add the champignon mushrooms and the rice, turning carefully (there must be no lumps). - Add the ketchup, continuing to stir. Salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and keep aside. - Melt a generous knob of butter in a large round pan, making sure that the edges are also greased well. - Pour the beaten eggs and lower the heat, thus cooking the wide and thin omelette. - When the omelette is almost ready, pour the previously prepared rice into the center and, with the help of the kitchen spatula, fold the edges of the omelette over the rice, forming a reverse bundle. - With great caution, spill the omelet on the plate. Use a sheet of kitchen paper to compact the omuraisu and adjust its shape. - Serve the omuraisu alone or accompanied with salad, decorated with ketchup on the surface.
