How to Swirl a Tornado Omelette Like a Master

The Internet can’t get enough of this 'omurice' (a portmanteau word for 'omelette' and 'rice') or tornado omelette video for a Korean street food staple that uses a pair of chopsticks to create a dish of pure swirly, eggy joy.

This is a video of a tornado omelette master doing his thing at a Korean street food stall. First, we’re shown how to swirl the egg mixture as it’s cooking to create that signature tornado from the omelette. Then we're treated to the omurice dish creation. 

What is an 'omurice' and where did it originate?

Omurice is a Japanese dish that was adopted by Korea as street food during the occupation. First, the rice is cooked and mixed with diced vegetables and meat like pork or fried bacon. The tornado omelette is draped over a mound of rice and served with a moat of Korean tomato demi-glace sauce. It is particularly popular with children and is often part of a Japanese kids meal or okosama-ranchi.

Omurice recipe

The tornado omelette is not as easy as it looks and it can be tricky to get it right. It’s more about the technique and equipment than the ingredients.

• Start by beating the eggs thoroughly in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. You may want to consider sieving the eggs to make them even silkier.
• Make a thin omelette in a small amount of hot vegetable oil.
• From watching the video, you can see a small non-stick pan is crucial, and the oil is heated to a high temperature. The chopsticks are used to swirl the eggs into the recognisable tornado shape.
• Remove the omelette before it is fully cooked to keep it moist as the residual heat will finish the cooking process.