Omurice: Omelette Rice

Ingredients

• For the ketchup fried rice
• 150 g cooked short-grain rice, day-old, grains separated
• 60 g boneless chicken, cut into small pieces
• 40 g onion, finely diced
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp neutral oil, for stir-frying
• 1 pinch salt
• For the omelette
• 2–3 eggs, beaten
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp neutral oil, for the omelette pan
• For the demi-glace sauce
• 60 ml demi-glace or fond-based sauce, warmed; spooned over at service

Method

1. 1
   Heat a wok or heavy frying pan over very high heat until smoking. Add the neutral oil, then the chicken pieces. Stir-fry until the chicken is just cooked through and beginning to colour at the edges.
2. 2
   Add the diced onion to the pan and stir-fry until softened and translucent.
3. 3
   Add the cooked rice, breaking up any clumps against the hot surface. Stir-fry over very high heat until the rice is dry and the grains show slight caramelisation at their edges.
4. 4
   Add the ketchup and toss vigorously until each grain is evenly coated and the mixture is fragrant. Season with salt. Remove from the heat and mound the rice to one side.
5. 5
   Beat 2–3 eggs with a pinch of salt until fully homogeneous. Heat a separate pan — the correct size to wrap the rice — over high heat and coat with neutral oil. Pour in the beaten eggs all at once and immediately stir them to a very loose scramble; then cease stirring and allow the egg to set into a thin, still-soft sheet. This is where the dish lives or dies: the omelette must be simultaneously cooked and soft — set enough to hold its shape around the rice, yet yielding enough to fold without tearing.
6. 6
   Place the ketchup rice in the centre of the egg sheet and mound it. Fold the egg sheet over the rice, enclosing it fully. Turn the omurice out onto a plate seam-side down so the surface is smooth and unmarked.
7. 7
   Spoon the warmed demi-glace or fond-based sauce over the omurice at service. The sauce is correctly applied when it pools around the base and glosses the top.