August 9, 2017

Tamago Gohan: You Game?

Tamago Gohan: You Game?
One of my daughter’s favorite things to eat (and mine too) is Tamago Gohan, directly translated from Japanese as Egg Rice, a raw egg mixed with hot rice and soy sauce. It’s a simple but delicious meal, comfort food, and I guess the Asian equivalent of Macaroni and Cheese. But tell this to your neighbor and they might look at you like you’re crazy. It’s RAW, they’ll say, horrified because eggs are meant to be cooked before eaten or else E. Coli and all those other nasty germs will make you sick.

I never had those inhibitions since my parents would use raw egg in many things such as the dip for hotpot or sukiyaki, and I LOVED it. We would slurp a raw egg yolk if my mom needed the whites for something else as well, and it’s one of my fondest memories when we lived in Taiwan. (Maybe one of the few because I contracted pneumonia from the construction in Taipei four times and had to be hospitalized.)

Neither myself nor my daughter have ever gotten sick from it and we eat it fairly regularly. The main thing being that I wash my duck eggs (which I personally like better for this than chicken eggs, but you can use both) before using.

It’s creamy, gooey, rich, and decadent, who knew something so simple could bring about so much joy?

If you’re adventurous, try it, you might find it to be the new “fast food” in your house.

Recipe:
The trick is to have hot, steamy rice, so I will zap leftover rice in the microwave–this very, very lightly cooks the egg, which creates an even more flavorful and delicious meal, especially if you like chawanmushi, which is steamed egg custard.

  • 1 cup white sushi rice, cooked
  • 1 egg (duck or chicken)
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce, with more on the side for taste

Optional

  • Pinch of MSG (like most Asians, I have no issue with MSG and will put a pinch to give it that extra umami kick)
  • Furikake, which is a rice seasoning that comes in many different flavors, such as bonito or seaweed or salmon
  • Shiso, shredded
  • Onion chives or scallions

 

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Filed Under: ducks, eggs, recipes, shiso