Photo/Illutration Rolled omelet with dashi (Chikako Tada)

Eat eggs only in the morning? Not at all in Japan. But in the West, scrambled eggs, omelets and fried eggs seem to be mainly on the breakfast menu.

At dinner, egg dishes are only an appetizer, like deviled eggs. If you look at the menu of a hamburger chain in the United States, there are no eggs on the regular menu at all.

However, for the Japanese market, menus are localized to add a hamburger with a fried egg.

There is a French dish similar to deviled eggs called oeuf mayonnaise, but I can’t think of any egg dishes for dinner. Quiche and Spanish omelets are also more like brunch or appetizers.

Recently in Rome, when I was eating the famous carbonara (pasta with eggs and cheese) and pizza alla Bismarck (pizza with a fried egg on top) dishes, a light bulb went off in my head: comrades!

My search for why eggs are preferred in the morning was in vain. Is it a religious reason or just a custom? Or is it because chickens lay eggs in the morning?

If you know of any other egg dishes other than Asian (and Italian) cuisine that are eaten hot and not in the morning, please let me know. In China they have crab and eggs; in Korea, they have a dish similar to chawanmushi (steamed eggs); and in India, they have egg curries.

But I don’t think you’ll find as much to choose from as you will in Japan.
Not to mention lunchbox omelets, we have eggs in rice bowls and in stir-fries.

The International Egg Commission announced that the annual per capita egg consumption in Japan in 2022 was 339 eggs. This is the second highest consumed after Mexico. Ah, the best buddy was over the ocean!

Here is a recipe for dashi maki, one of Japan’s all-day, anytime egg dishes. I learned this recipe from an izakaya restaurant in Fukuoka. If you make it over high heat, tossing with a good rhythm, it will be delicious! Check it out.

Ingredients for 2 servings
3 eggs / 90 ml dashi stock / 1/3 tsp salt / 1.5 Tbsp sugar / 2 tsp cooking oil

Directions
1. Combine the eggs, dashi stock, salt and sugar in a bowl. Whisk until just blended.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a rolling egg pan over high heat. Pour in about 80-90 percent of the egg mixture and tilt the pan quickly, stirring from the edge with chopsticks.
3. When the mixture looks like soft scrambled eggs, use a spatula to lift and fold the egg mixture until you have a rectangular omelet.
4. Move the eggs to the front of the pan. Add 1 tsp oil and pour in the remaining egg mixture. Cook over high heat. Fold well.

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Scan this QR code with your smartphone to view the recipe video in English.
https://www.youtube.com/c/PenandSpoon

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This article originally appeared in the May 5, 2023, issue of Asahi Weekly.

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Chikako Tada

Chikako Tada: The author of seven cookbooks, Tada is a Japanese food journalist and editor of Pen & Spoon, a website devoted to food (https://pen-and-spoon.com/). She worked as a newspaper reporter for 12 years before going freelance. She spent two years studying baking in Paris and began making bento around 2016 during her seven-year stay in India. She returned to Japan in 2020 and lives in Fukuoka.

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