Tamago Kake Gohan

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Tamago gohan (literally "egg rice")—rice mixed with a raw egg—is Japanese comfort food at its simplest. Start with a bowl of hot rice, then break an egg into it. Season it with a little bit of soy sauce, a pinch of salt, and a shake of Aji-no-moto, a Japanese brand of pure powdered MSG. (Like most Japanese people, I have no hang-ups about eating MSG.) Whip it up with a pair of chopsticks until the egg turns pale yellow and foamy and holds the rice in a light, frothy suspension, somewhere between a custard and a meringue.

The hot rice helps thicken the egg slightly, giving the whole dish a lighter, fluffier texture.
Beating the eggs and rice thoroughly with chopsticks introduces air into the egg whites, making them fluffier. You can also gently coddle your eggs in simmering water for a couple of minutes before adding them. Coddled eggs won't have quite the same lightness after they're added to the rice, but you'll get the general effect.
A drizzle of soy sauce, a little pinch of salt, a little pinch of MSG, and some finely torn or shredded nori. Some people like to add a dash of dashi (or, more frequently, some granules of Hondashi), which can give it an appealingly savory and smoky flavor. Some people will drizzle in mirin for sweetness. I generally don't bother, although, when I've got some on hand, I've been known to use bottled, concentrated soba noodle tsuyu, which contains all of those ingredients in a conveniently premixed form.

The real trick is in the beating. You need to beat thoroughly, and you need to beat vigorously. It'll take a little effort to get all the clumps out of the rice, but you want to continue beating even after that's happened. Just like creaming butter and sugar for a cookie dough, as you beat the rice and egg mixture, it will incorporate more and more air. Meanwhile, egg proteins will also stretch and tangle, giving the dish more cohesion. By the time you're done, the mixture should flow and settle very, very slowly in the bowl—just slightly thicker than an Italian-style risotto, but far lighter.

Soy sauce, MSG, and furikake are all umami-rich ingredients that give the dish a nice savory flavor.

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  • 1

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked hot white rice (about 12 ounces cooked rice; 340g)
  • 1 egg (plus 1 optional egg yolk)
  • Soy sauce
  • Kosher salt
  • MSG powder, such as Aji-no-moto or Accent (optional)
  • Mirin (optional)
  • Hondashi (optional; see note above)
  • Furikake (optional; see note above)
  • Thinly sliced or torn nori (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

Place rice in a bowl and make a shallow indentation in the center. Break the whole egg into the center. Season with 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, a pinch of salt, a pinch of MSG, 1/2 teaspoon mirin (if using), and a pinch of Hondashi (if using). Stir vigorously with chopsticks to incorporate egg; it should become pale yellow, frothy, and fluffy in texture. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Sprinkle with furikake and nori (if using), make a small indentation in the top, and add the other egg yolk (if using). Serve immediately.

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