Japanese egg rolls are made by mixing dashi to beaten eggs. In Japan they are usually eaten with grated daikon radish and soy sauce, as a snack with sake. Maybe think of the eggs you get at a sushi restaurant?

Here in Japan we make them with a square kind of frying pan, and then shape them with the same makisu used for making sushi rolls. But you can do it with a normal frying pan and tin foil just as well.

It takes a bit of practice to get the eggs to roll just right, but if you persist you should get it! Believe and you will win! (…maybe? hahaha)

And if it all goes wrong? Hey, an omelette with dashi is just as delicious!

---

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons dashi
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon usuguchi soy sauce

---

1. Break the eggs in to a bowl and beat – you don’t want to create an egg froth, but rather try and cut the white and mix it with the yolks smoothly. If you can, try using chopsticks instead of a fork, repeatedly lifting and the egg whites till they drop.

2. Mix the dashi, mirin and soy sauce with the eggs.

 

3. Coat a frying pan with oil, pour in a little of the egg mix till it is covered evenly with about 2 mm of egg, and when it is half cooked roll the egg over itself from the far end towards you.

4. When you have rolled to the end, gently push the egg back to the far end, add another thin layer of raw egg mix as above, lifting your half completed roll so the raw egg flows underneath as well.

5. Like before, when the new layer of egg is hall cooked, roll the first roll towards you to add a new layer.

6. Repeat the process until you have used up your raw egg mix – maybe 3 to 5 times.

7. When you have rolled all the mix, remove it from the pan and roll in the sushi makisu while it is still hot to shape it. (That’s how we do it in Japan – in a long rectangular shape – but of course you can make it any shape you want!)

8. Your egg roll is delicious just as it is, but you can eat it with a bit of grated daikon and soy sauce if you like.

---

Japanese Egg Roll with Mushroom Sauce

Japanese egg roll is usually eaten as a side dish, and doesn’t usually work as a main player, but here’s an idea for how to make it a grown-up dish all of it’s own. This mushroom and dashi cream sauce is really yummy – rich and fresh – and it would go wonderfully with sautéed fish as well. Experiment!

Ingredients

• 4 mushrooms
• 5 tablespoons dashi
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt
• pepper
• 100cc cream
• parsley

---

1. Thinly slice the mushrooms.

2. Using a heavy pan, melt the butter and warm the mushrooms on a low heat.

3. When they are heated through, add your konbu and bonito dashi and the wine and heat more, stirring with a wooden spatula in a scraping motion along the bottom of the pan.

4. Add the cream, salt and pepper to taste, and finally the chopped parsley.

5. Pour the hot sauce over your egg roll, and voila!