Dashimaki

"I'm not the dashimaki maker, I'm the dashimaki maker's son. I'm just making dashimaki 'til the dashimaki maker comes."

Okay, so I AM the dashimaki maker, & I'm nobody's son. Ahem.

Anyway...I love dashimaki. LOVE IT. Couldn't get enough of it on my first trip to Japan, & no one at home or in any of my American Japanese restaurants has any idea how to make it or what it is. So! When a certain person found out how much I loved the stuff, she presented me with a gift of hon dashi and a tiny dashimaki/tamagoyaki pan! Yay! I put everything in my Muscle Park pail, because I am a huge nerd and it made me happy to do so.

Dashimaki is just eggs, dashi (bonito soup base), starch (I use corn starch but I guess you're supposed to use potato starch, but anyway it still works) & soy sauce. I measure NOTHING. Measures are for girls. Pfft.

A big part of mixing it all together is just being smart. I use warm water to dissolve the dashi powder, because it works best, so first I put about a teaspoon of dashi powder in a Pyrex cup with a spout & add maybe 1/4 cup of warm water, & mix it up well. Then, 4 eggs. Then, a dash of soy sauce (probably a teaspoon). Then in a separate cup, I add a teaspoon or so of corn starch powder to just a little COLD water & mix it. That way, no lumps! Mom taught me that... Anyway, once that's all dissolved it goes into the egg mixture & you whip it all together a few times. Use chopsticks! It's fun! Dashi smells fishy....

So, you oil the pan well, & keep a oily paper towel all folded up small, right next to the pan, so you can re-oil it between layers of egg. Heat up the pan til it's very hot (but not too hot...you don't want smoking oil)...pour a thin layer of egg in (it should sizzle) and when it sets up enough to lift away from the surface, start rolling it with your chopsticks.

You should end up with a little egg roll at one end of the pan. Oil the end you started from, slide the egg back to that end, pour a small amount of egg mixture into the other end of the pan. Lift up the edge of the egg you already rolled, so some of the mixture adheres to the rolled egg (this is so you can continue to roll the egg unbroken). Then, just keep rolling up the egg layers!

It takes practice. Chopsticks really are the best tool for the job, so you better have mad chopsick skills. It's tricky because you want the egg to not get too brown, & you want to roll fast enough that the egg is still soft when you start to roll (but not runny). I find thin layers work best because that way you can roll it up fast.

When your egg log is all rolled up, you are supposed to tighten it by rolling it in a makisu (bamboo mat)...I am not brave enough to do this yet. Perhaps someday...

Anyway I let it cool a bit & then slice it up. In the picture (above) I laid the pieces flat so you can see the layers.

My daughter Charlotte is CRAZY about dashimaki! I make it for her with a little bowl of sticky rice flavored with salty nori flakes, & some edamame. It takes me about a half hour from start to finish. I'm getting better each time I make it, too, because it does take a bit of practice.