Just Bento

Here’s another easy egg recipe made with 1 or 2 eggs. It’s made in the microwave, and the method can be used for an ‘omelette’ with all kinds of additives. Here I have used a little bit of leftover cheese and some parsley. It goes well in a rice based or bread based bento. Cooking egg in the microwave is mentioned in several bento books and magazine articles, from which I’ve adapted the following method.

Recipe: Cheesy microwave omelette.

To make a 2-egg omelette. Halve quantities for a 1-egg version.

• 2 ‘large’ eggs
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. salt, depending on how salty the cheese is
• 1 Tbs. water or milk
• 1 Tbs. finely diced cheese (here I used Gruyere) or grated cheese
• 1 Tbs. or so chopped parsley leaves

Mix the egg, salt and water or milk together in a small microwave safe bowl with a fork. Cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap.

Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute 45 seconds (for a 1-egg version for 1 minute). It will look like this - cooked on top, still uncooked beneath.

Stir it up well with a fork, breaking up the cooked egg solids.

Mix in the parsley and cheese.

Re-cover with the plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute 30 seconds (for a 1-egg version for 45 seconds). It will come out looking like this, and it should be cooked all the way through.

Spread out a double thickness of paper towel, and plop the omelette in one piece (with a spoon) from the bowl. (Be careful, it’s hot!) Note: I prefer using paper towels here instead of plastic wrap, which is the norm, since the paper absorbs any excess moisture and oil, and also lets the omelette cool a lot faster.

Roll up the paper towel tightly and twist the ends, as if you were wrapping a piece of candy. Leave like this until cool.

Cut into pieces. This is good with a tiny bit of ketchup, or just as-is.

You can add all kinds of things to this instead of the cheese and parsley, such as chopped up tomato (deseeded), cooked and chopped vegetables of any kind, herbs of your choice, chopped up ham, and so on.