April 20, 2012

Ougon Chahan (Golden Fried Rice)/黄金炒飯(チャーハン)

Ougon means gold. Ougon chahan is a type of chahan made by mixing beaten eggs and rice together before pan-frying. My Dried Enoki Chahan (Fried Rice) is one example of ougon chahan. Ougon chahan is the main type of chahan I make at home. My my children and I like chahan very much.
黄金(おうごん)とはgoldという意味です。黄金炒飯(チャーハン)は、炒める前に溶き卵をご飯を混ぜて作るチャーハンです。
私の干しえのきチャーハンも黄金チャーハンの一種です。私は家では主に黄金チャーハンを作っています。子供たちも私もチャーハンが大好きです。

You will need leftover rice.
残りご飯が要ります。
I have never made chahan with just cooked rice!
You MUST reheat the leftover rice in a microwave. This step is absolutely necessary for making chahan by using short-grain Japonica rice.
でき立てのご飯でチャーハンを作ったことはありません。
残りご飯は電子レンジで温める必要があります。短粒種のジャポニカ米でチャーハンを作る時は絶対必要なステップです。

I used four large eggs. You may have to use a spatula to disintegrate the rice so that each grain of rice is coated with egg.
Lの卵を4個使いました。へらを使って、ご飯をバラバラにして、粒一つ一つに卵をコーティングする必要があるかも知れません。
Place a frying pan on the stove, turn on the heat, and put some oil in the pan. (I used the oil in the tuna can.)
When the pan becomes hot enough, transfer the content of the bowl. Keep stirring with a pair of cooking chopsticks until the egg is set.
Add 1/2 tsp salt.
Add canned tuna.
Keep stirring for another minute or so in an attempt to evaporate excess water.
Turn off the heat.
Add some soy sauce and sesame oil.
コンロにフライパンを乗せ、火を点けて、油を少々入れます(私はツナ缶の油を使いました)。
フライパンが熱くなったら、ボールの中身を入れ、卵が固まるまで菜箸でかき混ぜ続けます。
塩を小さじ1/2入れます。
ツナ缶を入れます。
もう1分程度かき混ぜて、余分な水分を蒸発させます。
火を止めます。
しょう油とごま油を少し入れます。
I ate about one half of it.
約半分食べました。

10 comments:

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, it's so nice to see you back in action! I hope you haven't been ill. (I keep thinking about you looking at my growing mitsuba: thanks to you I know very moist soil guarantees growth).
This dish looks like a real revelation! I am sure both me and my husband will go crazy for it. I will make it very very soon and am sure it will become a staple just like oyakodon and okonomiyaki have become. I have never heard of chahan (but then I think I have never heard of so many Japanese dishes...). It reminded me of the rice omelet I have seen in Tampopo (but this dish looks better!).
By the way, I have spent several hours last weekend reading old threads on the eGullet forum you mention so often. I feel at least 100 times wiser ;-) This forum is a fascinating source of knowledge about the Japanese food and food-related topics (I read only the Japan forum). From what I have seen you are the biggest contributor there too! Thank you for mentioning it!

muskratbyte said...

This looks absolutely delicious! I've made fried rice before with egg, so I can't wait to try this now.

I've been to e-gullet before, but I never knew you were a contributor. I'll have to look for you - it's been a while since I've visited the forum.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Thanks for your compliment! But I believe Kristin, the second host of the Japan Forum, is the greatest contributor to that forum.

Thank you for thinking about me. I'm not ill, but I have had two major problems:
1. Now that my son goes to high school, I have to make a bento for him the first thing in the morning, and I'm busy at night, too, because my son gets back home at 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. almost every day. It's going to take some more time for me to get used to this new situation.
2. I've been searching for some ultimate egg dishes, but to no avail. I even made Tampopo omurice (what you describe as "rice omelet"), but I didn't think it was an ultimate egg dish for me. I think golden chahan is one dish that I can call an ultimate egg dish. That's why I posted about it.

It's kind of surprising that you haven't heard of chahan before, because it's not Japanese in origin. Originally, it's a Chinese dish.

Hiroyuki said...

muskratbyte: I hope you like golden chahan! The more eggs, the better!

As for eGullet, it's no wonder you didn't notice me, because I've been dormant there for years now.

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, it seems like Japanese young people have very busy schedule... and their parents too! I hope you manage to have at least a nap in late evening...
I am sure you have made an excellent choice! It sounds better than Tampopo rice omelet!
I know Chinese cuisine much less than the Japanese, so it's not surprising I have never heard about it!
By the way, sorry for bothering you, butsince in theory at least I read hiragana and started to learn katakana, I have a small question: would you write omurice in katakana? I am even more motivated to learn katakana than hiragana. I am so excited I will be able to recognise real whole words written when I go to Japanese! I mean when I finally go to Japan, hopefully this year).
Talking about the Japanese forum, I have learnt thanks to it, the existence of "iki" concept... I have spent one hour talking about it with my Japanese friend/teacher. It's fascinating and no term or concept in Europe could be compared to it.

Hiroyuki said...

My son goes to a school in Nagaoka, a one-hour train ride from here, and the train comes only once an hour. He has to get up at 6:00 a.m., and catch the 6:46 train.
School is over before 4:00 p.m., and he practices soccer until about 6:30 p.m. (He joins the soccer club.) He has to catch the 18:53 train to come home at around eight. If he misses it, he has to take the 19:57 train.

Omurice is
オムライス.

Iki?
http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/english/design/lighting.html

Fräulein Trude said...

Hiroyuki the rice looks very nice, bright golden. I have to try it next time. Thanks for sharing so many delicious egg recipes.

Sissi said...

Incredible! Thank you for the link.
Thank you very much for omurice in katakana (although I should have tried to look up on internet instead of bothering you...).

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: But I still haven't tried cuddled eggs you mentioned or tamago tofu.

My version of golden fried rice is very simple and humble. I'm sure you want to add more ingredients.

Note that by "golden fried rice", some people mean slightly different dishes, for example, fried rice made with egg yolks only.

Sissi: I still don't understand how these new styles of lighting for Tokyo Sky Tree can represent iki and miyabi...

Nancy Heller said...

Hi Hiroyuki - I just blogged about my own take on this recipe (together with Omurice and dumpling-noodle soup) and I wanted to let you know (and I linked to this post and your blog homepage also). Thank you for the cooking tips! My post is here:http://funplayingwithfood.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-fun-with-japanese-style-food.html