Tamago-Gohan: Food My Momma Usta Make

By: Midori Nakamura (View Profile)

A Challenge—Show Me!

Announcing the launch of a new column that is dedicated to those dishes our moms (or dads, or grandparents, or adopted parents) used to make that still make us homesick when we think about them. Ideally, these dishes were easy, fast, cheap, used only a few ingredients, were flexible (in case you couldn’t get said ingredients), and really captured the flavor of home cooking. Of course, if your mom was Julia Childs and you want to contribute something about
haute cuisine, that’s awesome too. Above all, I’m interested in those recipes that you’ve never seen elsewhere, online or in print. Let me start the ball rolling …

Tamago-Gohan

I’m not Japanese (really) and I don’t speak Japanese, but I know the words above translate into “egg-rice.” This is the easiest, cheapest, fastest meal I know, and it uses only three ingredients. I can’t get through a winter without it. I’ve never seen a recipe for it—or seen it in a book or restaurant, ever. Some of you are going to go euuuuwwww, but trust me, you’re not eating raw egg like Rocky.

Ingredients (for 1 serving):

One egg (s/b fresh—like any egg you eat! Best if it’s room temperature)

2 cups cooked rice (MUST BE FRESH AND HOT!!! This is important. What’s not important is what type of rice. I now use brown rice to make the dish healthier, and I have the best results with short-grain brown rice.

Soy sauce, about 2 tablespoons, but to taste (I’m into salt; you can use less or use the low-sodium version)

Directions:

1. Cook rice. While rice is cooking, crack egg into bowl, and add soy sauce (my family called soy sauce shoyu). Whip soy sauce and egg together until the combo is well-blended with a bit of air in it

2. As soon as rice is done, scoop a couple spoonfuls of the HOT rice into the egg-shoyu mixture; start to stir vigorously. Continue stirring vigorously as you add a couple more big spoonfuls of rice. The egg-shoyu-rice mixture will start to foam; keep adding hot rice and stirring until the whole dish is foamy and not much liquid remains.

BTW: this recipe is very high in protein (d’oh) and low in calories. If you’re watching your cholesterol, you have to take the egg into account, but other than that, you can’t do much better for a sports recovery meal. It’s got the salt you need to replace, complex carbos, and protein.

Related Articles:

Foods My Momma Usta Make (by Richela Fabian Morgan)

Food My Momma Usta Make: Okra-gohan

To contribute to this column, just post an article using “Food My Momma Usta Make,” as the opening of your recipe title.

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Comments
posted: 05.21.2007
Retsu Takahashi
Japanese cuisine and eggs have an interesting relationship. I grew up in a Japanese household in Brooklyn, NY, and raw eggs were part of our menu too. Sukiyaki, dipped in raw egg was another favorite. And of course, this dish - although we knew it as "tamago-kakeh-gohan ("rice covered with egg")" and it was the egg mixture that was added to the bowl of hot rice. Years later, I came across a cocktail in a Japanese drink book called a "Moon Rise" - pour a pilsner glass of stout (ale), carefully drop in a separated egg yolk (reserve white for another use). This cocktail alludes to a harvest moon rising in the night sky. As you drink the beer, at the very end, the yolk slides in and finishes the experience. Yummy if you like your eggs soft-boiled. My friends were freaked out by it.
posted: 05.11.2007
Sarah Sibley
MMMmmm hungry. Thanks Midori. I'm gonna make these and start calling them Midori eggs.
posted: 05.09.2007
Scott Saifer
Maybe I should become whatever non-Japanese nationality you are. I've been disappointed recently that my health and calorie conscious wife rightly won't eat many of my Jewish family favorites such as potato latkes (potato pancakes with extra oil), gribbenahs (chicken skin fried crisp), and chopped chicken liver (chicken liver with eggs). Low fat would go over much better.
posted: 05.09.2007
Heather Collins
Ah, the comfort of eggs and rice. Reminds me of my grandmother's southern version of this -- soft boiled eggs over buttered grits.
posted: 05.08.2007
Laura Sweeney
Yum. Once I'm done with phase one of my low card diet, I'll try it out. Always looking for new ideas, I think my daughter would love this!
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