[Food] Dalgyal-mari (달걀말이, Korean Omelet)

[Food]

[Food] Dalgyal-mari (달걀말이, Korean Omelet)

Dalgyal-mary (Korean Omelet)

Korean Omelet is the first dish I learned to cook in my life. It is very simple and delicious....but it doesn't look so. Korean omelet is different from western and Japanese omelet. It is in a roll with a slightly salty and plain egg taste. Its taste differs according to the ingredients you put in it.

I remember the times when I cooked dalgyal-mari as a 9-year-old boy. I liked cooking eggs after breaking their yolks. I heated them on a pan and cooked them till they were as crispy as a biscuit, but I often failed as they somewhat looked like charcoal because I wanted them to be really crispy with a thick brown color.

I have enjoyed gourmet since I was a young boy. I really liked the mild oily and deep-fried, crisp-like texture of roasted omelet with a little ketchup on it and a bowl of rice and kimchi.

A typical Korean meal with dalgyal-mari, radish kimchi and dried-pollack soup

My mom was usually busy with her friends and work when I was in elementary school. So she let me use the delivery food service or she left some rice and side dishes for my afternoon meal. That's when I started to cook, if my memory serves me well.

Dalgyal-mari is a very easy and typical Korean meal for every meal time, as other countries cook eggs into an omelet and into many varieties of dishes. In Korea, we also make many varieties of Korean omelet by putting in various ingredients such as dried laver, sliced cheese, cooked roe, spring onion, carrot, leek etc.

A Korean omelet with dried-laver in it

A Korean omelet with chopped spring onion in it

The recipe is very simple, easier than making western omelet. You just break egg yolks then heat them onto a pan into a flat-paper shape. When the bottom half of the egg is cooked, roll the egg into a long cylindrical shape with layers in it by turning it. It sounds very easy but if you try...it's not. You need to practice it to make a perfectly shaped dalgyal-mari by using enough oil, fire and turner skill.

Dalgyal-mari with ketchup on top. Ketchup is an egg dish's best friend in Korea.

Now? Well, I'm good at cooking so making an omelet is a piece of cake :) I use some milk to remove the fish-like smell from the egg and add fermented-salted shrimp to give it a natural salty flavor. I'm sure you also have your own secret recipe for omelet :) Please share them as a reply, if you do.



Bon Appétit!