Cherry Blossom Tamagoyaki (Japanese Omelette)

This Cherry Blossom Tamagoyaki could be the most beautiful Japanese Omelette you’ve ever seen!🌺

Simply separate egg whites and egg yolks, you can make a special white omelette decorated with lovely pink ham cherry blossoms. Pack up some in a bento box.

It’s time for a springtime picnic under the blossoming cherry trees!

What is tamagoyaki?

“Tamago” means “egg”, and “yaki” means “grilled” in Japanese. Tamagoyaki (玉子焼き) literally means “grilled egg”. 

Because it’s so pretty, nutritious, and easy to make, tamagoyaki is one of the most common and popular Japanese food.

Tamagoyaki tastes good both hot and cold. Therefore, you can see Japanese people eating these lovely egg rolls as breakfast, packing them in lunch bento box, serving them as a side dish, and making them as midnight snacks.

The main difference between tamagoyaki and American omelette is that, tamagoyaki is made of multiple layers of pan fried eggs, while you only need to fold the pan fried eggs for once to make American style omelette. 

What Tamagoyaki Taste Like?

To be honest, I was surprised to taste a sweet omelette on my first time trying tamagoyaki. 

After I got used to its sweet custard like flavor, I enjoy eating tamagoyaki cold as a dessert – it tastes kinda like Lady M’s Mille Crêpes!

(I still can’t accept a sweet but hot egg roll.😖)

Nevertheless, you can always be flexible and creative when you make tamagoyaki at home! 

If you are like me and do not like hot sweet egg rolls, feel free to skip the sugar and make your tamagoyaki tastes savory.

A common method is adding dashi ( (だし, 出汁, Japanese broth) and soy sauce to make savory tamagoyaki – dashimaki tamago.

Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Tamagoyaki

I love my new cherry blossom pattern tamagoyaki pan!

At the moment of receiving this pan, a great idea came to my mind: why don’t we add cherry blossom patterns to our tamagoyaki too?

The cherry blossom (桜, sakura) is Japan’s unofficial national flower.

In Japan, there’s a thousand-year-old tradition called hanami

(“flower videwing”) for people to hold parties under sakura trees to enjoy the beautiful but delicate cherry blossoms with families and friends. 

Sweet and soft tamagoyaki decorated with pink cherry blossoms would be a perfect snack to share and enjoy during on a springtime picnic under sakura trees!

You can just simply use a vegetable/cookie cutter to cut out some cherry blossoms with a slice of ham.

Some cooking tips for making Cherry Blossom Tamagoyaki

1. Crack 4 eggs. Scoop out 3 tbsps of egg white (about one and half egg white) to a small bowl, and keep the remaining of egg whites and egg yolks in a large bowl. Use the egg white to make the outer layer of the tamagoyaki looks white (it will make the cherry blossom pattern look more clear🌸).
2. Dissolve 2 tsps of cornstarch with 2 tbsps of water. Add the cornstarch water to the egg mixture to make the tamagoyaki smoother and tender but less likely to break.
3. Be patient and use medium low heat all the time. Wait until the egg mixture stops being runny in the pan before you roll it up. But do not overcook the egg – the top should still look slightly wet and shiny when you roll the egg up.
4. If you’re not familiar with the rolling up step, or it takes you more than 10 seconds to roll up a layer of egg, you can move the pan to a cold stove burner to carefully roll up the egg. You should keep the previous stove burner on medium low heat, once you finish the rolling step, move the pan back to the hot burner to brush oil and pour egg mixture. 
5. Add finely chopped green onions to egg whites. They will look like sakura leaves.
6. Bubbles will make your tamagoyaki looks and tastes rough. Try your best to avoid bubbles by: gently whisk the egg until the egg yolks and egg whites are blended, strain the egg mixture through a fine sieve to remove any remaining bubbles and lumps, poke the bubbles quickly if there is any before the egg turns solid in the pan. 

How to Make Cherry Blossom Tamagoyaki

EQUIPMENT

• Tamagaoyaki pan

• Vegetable/cookie shape cutter – flower shape

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large eggs
• 1 tbsp sugar – in egg yolk mixture
• 1 tsp sugar – in egg white mixture
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp water
• ⅛ tsp salt (aka “a pinch of salt”)
• 1 tsp green onions – finely chopped
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Use a flower shape vegetable cutter to cut 2 slices of ham into 12 to 14 flowers.

2. Crack 4 large eggs in a bowl. Transfer 3 tbsps of egg white (about the egg white from 1½ egg) to a separate bowl.

3. Add 1 tbsp of sugar and a pinch of salt to the egg yolk mixture. Add 1 tsp of sugar and a tiny pinch of salt to the egg white. Gently whisk until well combined. Try to avoid producing bubbles. Do not whip the eggs.

4. Dissolve 2 tsps of cornstarch with 2 tbsps of cold water.

5. Add ¾ of the cornstarch water to the egg yolk mixture, add the rest of the cornstarch water to the egg white mixture. Gently whisk until well combined.

6. Add 1 tsp of finely chopped green onions to the egg white mixture. Set aside.

7. Strain the egg yolk mixture through a fine sieve to remove any remaining bubbles and lumps for a smoother texture.

8. Preheat the tamagoyaki pan over medium low heat for 2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to a small dipping bowl. Dip a brush in the oil, brush a thin layer of oil to the pan.

9. Pour a thin layer of egg yolk mixture (about 3 tbsps) into the pan. Tilt the pan around to allow the egg yolk mixture to spread evenly in the bottom of the pan.

10. Once the bottom of the egg has set (it stops runny when you tilt the pan) but the top is still slightly wet, roll up the egg from the far side toward the near side.

11. Push the rolled egg to the far side. Brush a thin layer of oil to the pan.

12. Pour 3 tbsps of egg yolk mixture to the pan. Repeat for about 3 times until the egg yolk mixture is finished.

13. Brush oil to the pan. Evenly put ham flowers on the bottom of the pan.

14. Gently whisk the egg white mixture so that the cornstarch is not sinking to the bottom. Pour the egg white mixture into the pan.

15. Cook over medium low heat until the egg white is not transparent anymore. Roll up the omelette.

16. Transfer the tamagoyaki to a cutting board. Optionally use ketchup to draw a small red dot in the middle of each cherry blossom.

17. Cut the tamagoyaki roll crosswise into 2-inch pieces.

18. Transfer to a serving plate or a bento box. Can be served both hot and cold.

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