Omurice

Omurice (pronounced “o-muraisu” in Japanese) is one of those dishes that Japanese moms cook up for their hungry children which many Japanese fondly remember as their favorite childhood dish. It’s a combination of a fluffy omelette stuffed with ketchup fried rice and drizzled with ketchup.

This is the first dish I learned about in Animal Crossing that influenced be behavior IRL. When I was in Taiwan a little while ago, I saw the omurice on the menu and ordered it right away. To the right you can see me posing with it along with my Animal Crossing alter ego.

I was skeptical of Japan’s seeming over-use of ketchup (similar to the first time I ate spam musubi in Hawaii and overcame years of mainland snobbiness to discover the wonder that is Spam). But one bite won me over. The addition of the ketchup throughout the dish isn’t like the Heinz that you slather on burgers and hot dogs; when it’s cooked with the rice it caramelizes and adds a sweetness and a delicious tanginess that you don’t get in ordinary fried rice. The egg helps keep it warm and add additional eggy flavor to the egg that’s in the fried rice.