KitchenNippon

【Ingredients】(1 Serving)
Vinegared rice (酢飯 / Sumeshi)……150g

＜Egg crepe (薄焼き卵 / Usuyaki tamago)＞

Eggs (卵 / Tamago)……1
Sugar (砂糖 / Satō)……1/2tsp
Salt (塩/ Shio)……Pinch

＜Thickener made with water and katakuri flour＞

Katakuri flour (片栗粉 / Katakuriko)…1/2tsp
Water (水 / Mizu)……tsp１
Salad oil (サラダ油 / Sarada yu)……Tiny amount

＜Blanched Spinach ＞

Spinach (ほうれん草 / Hōrensō)……10g
Salt (塩/ Shio)……Pinch

Beni shōga (紅生姜 / Beni shōga)……10g
Pork loin ham (ロースハム / Rōsu hamu)……2 slices

Nori (のり / Nori)……1 whole sheet
• For the outside of the roll, cut out 1 piece 19㎝ × 16㎝.
• For the rose petal design, cut out 2 pieces 19㎝ × 5㎝. One of these will come from the nori sheet you are working with now, the other will come from the nori sheet used for the ura makizushi.

[How to Make]
(1) Make the egg crepe and filling for the rose design.

① Crack the egg into a bowl and scramble it well. Add the sugar, salt, and thickener and mix well again. Heat a tamago yaki pan over low heat and coat the surface of the pan thinly with salad oil. Add half of the egg mixture and spread it evenly in the pan. Once it firms up, flip it and cook the other side. Make two of these egg crepes.
② To cook the spinach, add at a pinch of salt to boiling water and fill a bowl with cold water. Add the spinach – stem first – to the boiling water. Leave it in for only about 10 seconds and then trans-fer it to the bowl with cold water. Squeeze out the excess water from the spinach and then cut off the root.
③ Cut the ham slices in half and then slice them into strips about the same thickness as the strips of beni shōga.

(2) Roll the filling and julienned egg into what will be rose petals.
① Spread one of the egg crepes out on a cutting board. Cover it evenly with half of the beni shōga and half of the julienned ham. Roll the egg crepe into a rod.

② Spread the second egg crepe out and cover it, too, with beni shōga and julienned ham, as described above. Take the first egg crepe, which you have already rolled into a rod, and place it at one edge of the crepe you are currently working on. Now, roll the whole thing up, so that the first egg crepe roll becomes the core of the second. Once you roll up the second crepe completely, position it so that the tail end of the external crepe is on the bottom side of the roll.

(3) Bring everything together to create the rose pattern.
① Place the 19×16㎝ sheet of nori on a makisu (makizushi rolling mat), so that it is 19cm deep and 16cm wide, and with the rough side up. Leaving a strip 1cm wide at the far end, spread the vinegared rice completely and evenly over the rest of the nori. Use a wet spoon to spread the rice out and make sure you have a uniform thickness.

② Take one of the 19×5cm nori sheets and place it about 1/3 of the way in on top of the rice. On top of this second sheet of nori – and, a little bit in from the edge – use a cook-ing chopstick to make 2 parallel channels across the width of the nori. Place spinach in both of these channels. Move a little further in on top of the rice (leave a little open space), place the second 19×5cm nori sheet on top of the rice and use a cook-ing chopstick to make 1 channel across the width of the nori. Place spinach in this channel too.
③ Place the rolled up egg crepes between the two sheets of nori, and position it so that the tail end of the outside crepe is down.
④ Lift the rolling mat edge that is closest to you and roll the whole thing away from your body.
⑤ With the tail end of the rolling mat on the bottom of the roll, use your hands to make sure you have a roll that is nice and round. Remove the rolling mat. Cut the roll into 6 even pieces. Use a wet towel to dampen the sides of the knife blade before the first cut and between each of the following cuts.

Recipe Developed by: Machiko Tateno