Fried Rice Omelets

I have been eating Fried Rice Omelets since I was a little girl...always thought my mom or dad made up this recipe. I was surprised to read this:From Wikipedia- "Omurice, sometimes spelled "omu-rice" (オムライス, Omu-raisu), is a contemporary Japanese dish consisting of an omelet made with fried rice. It is a popular dish both commonly cooked at home and can be found at many Izakaya restaurants in Japan. It is also a popular dish in many restaurants in South Korea and Taiwan."
Even though fried rice is a Chinese dish, we loved it growing up. My kids still beg my mom, a.k.a . "Grandma Japanese" (yes they all call her that) to make them Fried Rice Omelets whenever she visits. It sounds weird, but is really so good.
When cooking the ingredients- vegetables, meat, etc., do so- one ingredient at a time. Mom tried to teach me this in the beginning, but I resisted, and wanted to throw everything in a pan together, mix it all up and expected it to taste like her fried rice. It never did. Something was always "off". She would shake her head and say "You HAVE to cook each ingredient one at a time, not mix all up."

FINE. So, I finally listened, and now, after 26 years, can say my gohan is ALMOST as good as hers.
P.S.

You know what is really funny? We love this, but she would be embarrassed to see that I posted this recipe. Kind of like an American posting a recipe for, say, Grilled Cheese sands made with Kraft Singles!

Fried Rice Omelet
A Bountiful Kitchen

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below)
1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white)
1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices)
2 cups cabbage, sliced thin
4 tablespoons butter, separated
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt
pepper
soy sauce
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately*, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable.
Transfer to a bowl or plate. It's OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point :)
After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well.
Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper.
Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don't like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips:
-Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess.
-Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice.
-When "mixing" the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it's a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Now for the omelet part:
Mix eggs just as you would with a regular omelet. Sprinkle cheese over one side of the egg mixture, just before adding the fried rice. Fold over the top of the omelet. Slide on to a plate and enjoy.

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