Egg Rolls: Salmon and fresh goat cheese

It's summer, the perfect time to use as much raw food as possible. Salads, fruits, vegetables... so many fresh ingredients are now at their ripe time. And with our vertical garden growing bigger each day, we can enjoy raw food at it's most. So today, let's not waste time at the stove but rather make something quick, simple to digest and ideal to give calories to a salad - Egg Rolls.

Ever since my first encounter with Sushi and the Bento world, egg rolls where a big question mark to me. Always looking so yummy and so bright - nothing but a nice touch of yellow in a otherwise pale plate. For as long as I can remember scrambled eggs were thick, easily broken and flexible as Styrofoam can be - so how could they use them so roundly and nicely?
....google...google...gooogle.. :) Just by adding a spoon of sake, or even easier a small amount of starch and taa-daaa: your eggs can be formed into a perfect sheet - ready to be rolled! Whether used for sushi, decorating your Bento or filling in with your favourite ingredients, it will definitely give your dishes a fresh and appealing color!



This recipe has been made out of the original Tamagoyaki recipe - a Japanese dish made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg, usually in a rectangular pan. Rice vinegar, sugar, sake and/or dashi are commonly used to flavor the eggs, at times soy sauce as well. Cut then into bite pieces it is usually served at breakfast or on top of a nigiri sushi.

In this post I made instead egg sheets, which were then filled with smoked salmon, avocado, fresh cheese and a nori sheet. You can use the same recipe to make sushi rolled in egg, or use them to roll any other filling you wish to.


Total time: 20'
Serves: 2
Difficulty: Moderate
Calories: ~ 305 kcal / person

Ingredients:

- 2 eggs
- 1 ts sugar
- 1 ts plain flour or corn starch
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbs sake (to taste)

Filling
- 1/4 avocado, peeled
- 115 g smoked salmon
- 3 sheets of nori
- 150 g fresh goat cheese

To Garnish
- 4 tbs flax oil
- lamb's lettuce

When making egg rolls it's much better to use a small rectangular pan, rather than a round one. It's rather important to have a square or rectangular egg sheet if you wish to achieve even bite pieces. Of course, you can always trim a round egg sheet into the desired shape and use the cut pieces inside the rolls, but it takes longer.
So just for my tamagoyaki I bought a small rectangular pan on ebay :), no such pans in Croatia.

1. Scramble your eggs with sugar, salt and sake. Sprinkle the flour through a mesh strainer to avoid crumbs from forming.
2. Heat your pan on medium heat, pour a teaspoon of oil, and then spread it over the pan using a kitchen paper. You will reuse the same kitchen paper to grease the pan before each new sheet, so don't throw it away.
3. Depending on the size of your pan, using a ladle pour a small amount of eggs, just enough to cover the pan.
4. Wait until the bottom of the eggs are cooked (less than a minute), and then flip it over carefully - not to break it. If your sheet is rather thin, this will take you 10'-15' per side.
5. Repeat until you use all the eggs. Should be about 6 sheets in a 18x12cm pan (7.28"x4.7")




Notice the color, thickness and flexibility of the sheets?

ROLLING
6. Spread the salmon on the egg sheet, followed by the nori. Add some fresh cheese on half of it, and place few strips of avocado on the corner. Sprinkle some flax oil on the cheese.
7. Start rolling tightly and firmly from the avocado side, up to the end of the sheet. If your roll won't stay rolled, use a pinch of fresh cheese on the very end to help you stick it.

8. Cut into bite pieces and arrange with salad.

Pssst.... pickled ginger goes great with this recipe ;)

TIPS:
• If using sugar in your eggs, be careful. Since the sugar will burn easily, turning your eggs brown in an instant. So mind not to use too much of it and be quick. :)
• The thinner the sheet, the less it takes to cook completely, the brighter the yellow will be. If you make your sheets thicker, it will take you longer, which will increase your chances of getting brown spots on your rolls.
• When flipping the sheet I found it easier to use chopsticks instead of a spatula. But if you're not use to them a spatula or bare fingers might be easier for you.
• Even thou the trick of using fresh cheese to stick the roll is rather useful, in this case the nori sheet itself should be enough to glue it together. If it's too crunchy, you can moist it just a bit with your fingers, making it now sticky.
• Did I tell you this is perfect for a Bento? :)

I used this recipe to make...

Puck's Bento

Used the egg sheet as sun rays

Pingu Bento

Made Tamagoyaki for Bento