Tamago Kake Gohan (卵かけご飯)

Tamago Kake Gohan (卵かけご飯) is a very simple, and common rice dish that is eaten all across Japan.

It is an extremely simple dish consisting of just raw egg and cooked rice, that is typically eaten for breakfast.

Tamago Kake Gohan is short for Tamago Bukkake Gohan.

Tamago（卵) means “egg”; bukkake (ぶっかけ） means “to pour; to splash on”; and gohan (ご飯) means “rice”.

Sometime, the dish is simply referred to as TKG.

Read on for more interesting info about Tamago Kake Gohan:

Ingredients

The main ingredients of Tamago Kake Gohan are:

• Rice
• Egg

The egg must be raw. It is very typical in Japan to eat raw egg, as there is very strict hygiene policies for egg producers.

If you are in another country, check if it is safe or not to eat the eggs raw, as it is easy to get food poisoning.

Soy sauce is typically used as the main seasoning ingredient.

There are actually special types soy sauce made by various companies specifically for eating TKG. Usually they contain some mixture of dashi, or sweet ingredient like mirin.

Other common seasoning ingredients include wasabi and mentsuyu.

Location

TKG is eaten all over Japan. There are even restaurants that specialize in TKG.

It is also a typical dish to make at home since it is so simple.

TKG from Misaki, Okayama

TKG is thought to have first originated from Misaki Town in Okayama Prefecture, which is still known for its poultry farming. Apparently, over 70,000 people visit the small town (population 12,000) each year to eat TKG.

One of the most famous restaurants to try raw egg and rice in Misaki Town is called “Shokudo Kammechi” (食堂かめっち). Click here for Google Maps link.

Read more about TKG’s interesting history below:

History / Origin of TKG

Tamago Kake Gohan is thought to have been created during the Meiji Period. It was invented, and first eaten by a person named Ginka Kishida (岸田吟香), who was born in Misaki Town (Okayama).

Kishida was a famous newspaper journalist, and Japan’s first ever war correspondent. He often recommended the meal of raw egg on rice to people around him. Apparently, the dish was originally called “kei-ranae” 鶏卵和(けいらんあえ), and consisted of rice topped with raw eggs, salt, and chili peppers.

TKG was not immediately popular throughout Japan, mainly because eggs were considered expensive.

Around 1970, poultry farming techniques were introduced from the United States, and helped drastically increase egg production. TKG became more popular as eggs became more affordable for regular folk.

How to Make & Eat Tamago Kake Gohan

Just crack an egg on some freshly cooked rice. That’s it! 😂

Top it with some soy sauce, and you’re good to go! If you’re outside of Japan, make sure the egg you buy is safe to eat raw.

If you want a more detailed recipe, here is one:

TKG Variations

There are infinite variations of ways to eat / make TKG. You can use various different toppings or sauces. The only limit is your imagination.

Check out this article from HotPepper.jp (in Japanese) for some interesting ideas.

Interesting notes about TKG

• There is a Tamago Kake Gohan Research Institute established in 2019, whose goal is to promote TKG, and create the most delicious version of TKG

Summary

Have you ever tried tamago kake gohan before? What did you think of it?

Leave your thoughts and comments below!