A lot of Japanese home-cooked dishes are not so well-known outside of Japan. This is why I have a long list of recipes to share with you! Many of these homey foods are simple, pantry-friendly, seasonal, and quick to make—just like today’s recipe, Lily Bulb Tamagotoji (百合根の卵とじ).
What Is Tamagotoji?
The name tamagotoji comes from the Japanese words tamago (卵, たまご) for egg and toji from the verb tojiru that means to close or to seal. It’s a Japanese cooking style where you pour beaten egg into a simmered dish, effectively “closing” the top surface with the egg.
The beaten egg quickly binds the ingredients and broth, which is easier to transfer over steamed rice and soba or udon noodle soup. The key is to make the egg fluffy and not overcook it. You may already know other dishes that apply this cooking method like Oyakodon, Katsudon, and Zosui (Rice Soup). Kakitamajiru (Japanese Egg Drop Soup) is not considered tamagotoji; it’s just a clear soup with fluffy egg drizzled in as an ingredient.
What Are Lily Bulbs (Yurine)?
Lily bulbs are called yurine (百合根, ゆりね) in Japanese. They are the edible bulb of the lily plant cultivated for food and medicine in Asia, especially in China, Korea, and Japan (read more about it here). You can eat it raw, stir-fried, deep-fried (like tempura), simmered, or cooked in sweets and soups.
What Do Lily Bulbs Taste Like?
Lily bulbs have tightly layered flat scales or petals connected at the stem base, similar to garlic. The raw petals are crisp and crunchy and have a mild, refreshing flavor, similar to water chestnuts. Cooked lily bulbs taste sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste, similar to turnips and potatoes. They also have a crunchy, starchy texture.
Where to Buy Lily Bulbs
Your local Japanese grocery stores may carry it during the winter months. I bought mine from Nijiya Market. Lily bulbs are often packed in sawdust to prevent damage and drying, and can keep in the refrigerator this way for up to a month. Keep it covered until you’re ready to use; if your lily bulbs aren’t packed in sawdust, use them sooner.
Lily Bulb Substitutions
Lily bulbs might not be easy to source. Here are equally perfect ingredient suggestions for this dish. We’ll add one green veggie on top of the egg, so try to look for non-green veggies here:
- Turnips
- Onion
- Potatoes
- Daikon
- Mushroom
- Bamboo shoot
- Bean sprout
- Tofu (medium-firm tofu or fried tofu)
Ingredients You’ll Need
Besides lily bulbs, you just need simple Japanese pantry ingredients:
- lily bulbs – or turnips, potatoes, onion, mushrooms, or anything!
- eggs
- one green veggie – I used mizuna today, but you could use green peas, spinach, snow peas, or arugula
- dashi (Japanese soup stock)
- condiments – mirin, sugar, and soy sauce
How To Make Lily Bulb Tamagotoji
It’s easy to make in just 15 minutes!
- Gently simmer the lily bulbs in a frying pan of dashi-soy-based broth until tender. Keep them in a single layer so they cook evenly in the liquid.
- Drizzle the beaten egg on top and add a leafy vegetable.
- Cover to let the egg set and serve immediately!
Cooking Tips For Tamagotoji
- Keep the ingredients simple and minimal. Besides eggs, just two ingredients are perfect.
- Use a frying pan instead of a pot so it’s easy to transfer to a serving dish or over steamed rice/noodle soup.
- Use usukuchi (light-colored) soy sauce so the broth doesn’t get too dark. If you don’t have it, you can use regular soy sauce.
- DO NOT overcook the egg. It is very important to keep the egg fluffy, so please carefully read my tips in the recipe instructions to avoid overcooking. Try to add the eggs when the broth is at a gentle simmer, not a hard boil.
How to Serve Tamagotoji
As I mentioned earlier, you can serve tamagotoji as a standalone dish. However, adding carbs is a fantastic way to volume up tamagotoji to make this a one-dish meal. Serve it over:
- steamed rice – tamagotoji don (donburi) (卵とじ丼)
- soba noodle soup – tamagotoji soba (卵とじそば)
- udon noodle soup – tamagotoji udon (卵とじうどん)
Looking for a lighter version? Serve tamagotoji on top of the warm silken tofu or healthy grains!
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Lily Bulb Tamagotoji
Ingredients
- 1 lily bulb (5.4 oz, 154 g; can substitute it with turnip, onion, potato, and more. Read the blog post.)
- 1 cup dashi (Japanese soup stock) (for vegetarian, make Vegan Dashi)
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp usukuchi (light-colored) soy sauce (you can use regular soy sauce)
- 2 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- ¼ cup mizuna (Japanese mustard green) (chopped to small pieces; can substitute it with green peas, spinach, snow peas, etc. Read the blog post.)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Rinse the lily bulb to remove any sawdust. Start peeling off the petals, like removing garlic clove.
- When you can't easily remove the petals from the bulb, make an incision on the bottom of the petal with a knife so petals will separate easily.
- Using the knife, remove any brown blemishes. Rinse the petals under running water again to remove any leftover sawdust.
- In a medium frying pan, add dashi, mirin, and sugar.
- Add soy sauce and turn on the heat to medium. Once simmering, lower the heat to medium-low and add the lily bulb. Make sure the lily bulb petals are in a single layer.
- Simmer the lily bulb in the broth until tender, but still crisp, about 3-4 minutes.
- Beat the eggs in a bowl (I used the same measuring cup that I used for dashi).
- While gently simmering (small bubbles around the edges), slowly pour the beaten egg over the lily bulb in circling motion starting from the center spiraling outward (don't pour in the same area). Place your cooking chopstick at the edge of the bowl/measuring cup, so the egg will drizzle down the chopstick in a thin stream.
- Add the mizuna (or any green veggie) and cover with the lid. Let the egg settle for 20-25 seconds.
- When the egg is set to your liking, remove the pan from the heat to prevent overcooking. Transfer the dish to a serving plate, or over steamed rice or noodle soup. Because of the broth, the egg should be easy to transfer. If some parts of the egg are stuck around the edges of the pan, loosen up with a spatula or by shaking the pan. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
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