Photo/Illutration

Steamy days! I feel like a dim sum in a bamboo basket, limp and damp. Spicy food keeps us cool in summer. Let’s make curry-flavored omurice, a Japanese rice omelet with an Indian twist.

It’s been a year since I returned from India, where I lived for seven years. The most common question I am asked is, “Is it true that Indians always eat curry?”

It is true. Most of my Indian ex-colleagues ate daily lunches that Japanese would call “curry.” Spices are as important to Indian people as soy sauce is for Japanese.

At the office, they brought lunch boxes and lined up in front of the five microwaves at 1 p.m. sharp, when the lunch break started.

Sometimes they shared dishes with me. The homecooked food was usually not too spicy and yummy.

I enjoyed working at the office, but when the COVID-19 pandemic began, a palm-size padlock was put on the entrance gate of my residential area. I suddenly had to work from home.

My two-hour commute became Indian cooking time with my housemate. I made samosas (potato-filled pastry turnovers) from scratch, pakoras (vegetable tempura fritters) and lotus seed snacks. I think I ate seven years’ worth of Indian food in the last three months I was there.

My 10-year-old son grew up in India, so my bento version of omurice is also curry flavored. To make it easier, use diced cooked chicken, bacon and ham instead of the soboro. I also like to make a side dish of mashed kabocha. Start by soaking the rice.

■ Curry omurice ■

(Ingredients for 2 servings)

Egg crepes (makes 2) 2 eggs / 1 Tbsp sugar / 1 Tbsp milk / 1 tsp potato starch / 1 tsp oil

Curry soboro 150 grams ground meat (chicken, pork, or a mix) / 1/2 Tbsp curry powder / 2 Tbsp soy sauce / 2 Tbsp sugar / 1 Tbsp sake

Cooked rice with curry 180 grams (220ml) rice / 240 ml water / 1/2 Tbsp curry powder / 1/2 Tbsp ketchup / 1/2 tsp salt / 1 tsp butter / 1/2 (80 grams) chopped onion / 80 grams curry soboro

As preferred:

2 slices cheese or ketchup

Side dish: Mashed kabocha 150 grams kabocha squash / 1 Tbsp maple syrup or sugar

1. Egg crepes: Dissolve potato starch in milk, then add sugar and egg. Mix well. Heat a 20-cm frying pan over low heat and add 1 Tbsp oil, swirling to coat bottom. Pour in half of the egg mixture. Spread into a thin crepe. Cover and cook for 3 minutes at low heat. Repeat for second crepe.

2. Soboro: Put all ingredients in a pot and turn on heat to high, mixing with chopsticks. When it comes to a boil, turn down heat. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes while stirring, until liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool.

3. Cook rice: Clean and soak rice for 20 minutes. Chop onion roughly. Put all ingredients except for 80 grams of soboro into a rice cooker. Once cooked, mix in the soboro.

4. Side dish: Cut kabocha into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of water on the kabocha. Cover with plastic wrap, and microwave at 600 watts for 4 minutes until soft. Mash and mix in maple syrup.

5. Assemble omurice: Put a slice of cheese on a sheet of plastic wrap. Top with an egg crepe. Place half of the rice in the middle. Lift up the plastic wrap and flip it over into the bento box, pressing it into an oblong shape. Decorate with ketchup if preferred.

6. Place half of the mashed kabocha in bento.

* * *

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

* * *

This article originally appeared in the Aug. 1, 2021, issue of Asahi Weekly.

Bento-Tada-L
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.

Related News