Omurice

Ingredients

• 300 g boneless chicken thigh, cut into 1 cm dice
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 100 g button mushrooms, finely diced
• 600 g cooked short-grain rice, cooled
• 6 tbsp tomato ketchup, plus 4 tbsp to serve
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 60 g butter
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 8 eggs
• 4 tbsp whole milk
• 40 g frozen peas, defrosted
• A few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley

Before you cook

• Dice the chicken, onion and mushrooms finely and keep them separate.
• Break up the cooled rice with wet hands so there are no clumps.
• Beat the eggs with the milk and a pinch of salt, then strain them through a sieve into a jug.
• Divide the strained egg into four equal portions.
• Set out four small bowls lined with cling film, for shaping the rice.

Steps

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat with the vegetable oil and 20 g of the butter.
2. Add the onion and fry for 3 minutes, until soft and just golden at the edges.
3. Add the chicken and fry for 4 minutes, until it is white all over and starting to colour.
4. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes, until their water has cooked off.
5. Push everything to one side and add the 6 tablespoons of ketchup to the bare part of the pan.
6. Fry the ketchup on its own for 1 minute, until it darkens and smells sweet rather than sharp, which is what stops the rice tasting raw.
7. Stir the ketchup through the chicken and add the Worcestershire sauce.
8. Tip in the rice and peas and stir-fry for 3 minutes, pressing and folding until every grain is orange.
9. Season the rice with the salt and white pepper, then taste it.
10. Pack a quarter of the rice into a cling-film-lined bowl, twist it closed and turn it out onto a warm plate to make a neat oval mound.
11. Shape the other three portions the same way onto three more plates.
12. Wipe out the pan, set it over medium-low heat and melt 10 g of butter until foaming.
13. Pour in one portion of egg and stir it quickly with chopsticks for 10 seconds, drawing the set curds to the centre.
14. Stop stirring and let the omelette set for 20 seconds, until the base is firm but the top is still wet and glossy.
15. Slide the omelette out of the pan directly over the rice mound, so it drapes and covers it.
16. Tuck the edges under the rice with a paper towel to tidy the shape.
17. Repeat for the other three plates, melting fresh butter each time.
18. Draw a stripe of ketchup down the length of each omelette and add a sprig of parsley.