Omurice

Omurice is a Japanese dish whose name gives it away: “Omu” and “rice” — omelette rice!

This is generally a simple dish of fried rice wrapped in omelette-style, thin scrambled egg. It’s especially popular with kids in Japan, when it’s often topped with ketchup. But really, there isn’t any one way to make omurice; rather, there’s quite a bit of variety in omurice because you can kind of make it however you want at home, and restaurants also make different types of omurice too.

This starts with the fried rice. It can be fried with chicken or made vegetarian, which are the two most common versions, but other meat versions exist too, including kid-favorite spam or hot dog fried rice.

Beyond the ingredients in the fried rice, the style of eggs and sauces or seasonings can vary too.

In particular, more sophisticated, restaurant-style omurice that’s become more popular the last few decades — especially thanks to some viral videos online — differentiates itself in both the egg and sauces.

In this style, the omelette is only partially cooked, folded over the rice, and sliced into, allowing the uncooked, jammy parts of the egg to run over and through the rice. You’ll also more commonly find these types of omurice with complex sauces.

At the end of the day though, omurice in Japan is especially just some of kids’ favorite food: simple, delicious, nutritious, and with a dollop of ketchup on top!