Recipe: Korean egg toast

Ketchup on the side is totally optional but kid-friendly. (Photo by Tammy Quackenbush)

Korean fusion cooking is not a one-way street where Westerners tinker with Korean dishes to make them more appealing to Westerners. Koreans also have "fusion" recipes, in which they have Korean-ized either Western or Japanese dishes.

I lightly sauteed the vegetables before adding the egg. I lightly cooked the egg but feel free to cook it as hard as you want. (Photo by Tammy Quackenbush)

One of the more recent Korean fusion recipes to hit the street markets of Seoul and other major cities in the country is the Korean egg sandwich. Commonly called 토스트 tost-u (toast, transliterated) or 계란 토스트 gaeran tost-u (egg toast), it is similar to an American fried egg sandwich. Yet the addition of cabbage and a sweet dusting of brown sugar are tasty Korean additions. You might also think of it as a portable Osaka-style okonomiyaki between two slices of bread. Even your cat might want some.

Here's the recipe for two servings:

Korean egg sandwich
4 slices bread (to be authentically Korean, it must be white bread.)
1 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp. chopped cabbage (or kimchi)
1 tbsp. grated carrots
1 tbsp. diced onions
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. ketchup (optional)

1. In sauté pan or on griddle, toast both sides of bread over medium heat using almost all the butter. A lower-fat option is to toast your bread in an electric toaster (which I don't own). Remove bread and set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and mix them with the cabbage, carrot and onion.
3. Fry the egg mixture in the remaining butter in the same pan until cooked to an omelet consistency. You can also add the veggies to the pan and lightly saute them before adding the scrambled egg separately, which is what I did this time.
4. Divide the egg mixture into two portions and place on two pieces of toast.
5. Top with remaining bread and give a liberal (or gingerly) dusting of brown sugar.
6. Cut the sandwich in half.
7. Put some ketchup on the side for dipping.

Even though the measurements seem precise, it's ok to measure out the vegetables and sugar in "pinches" or "dashes", which is what I did when making this for you.

Egg