If you want to make tamagoyaki, if you want to make sweet and savoury Japanese omelettes, you will need a square pan. You can try with a classic round frying pan but the result will be less compact and you will lose material.
- Makiyaki nabe, the Japanese square pan
- Its characteristics
- A very common utensil in Japanese cooking
- Our opinion on the Japanese square pan
Makiyaki nabe, the Japanese square pan
This pan in Japanese is called makiyaki nabe 巻き焼き鍋 literally pan for cooking rolls or tamagoyaki ki 卵焼き器 literally vessel for cooking eggs. Tamogoyaki is made by rolling up a dough with Japanese chopsticks, which usually consists of eggs dashi, of shoyu, , and mirin, and sugar (depending on the recipe) to form a roll that will be sliced and then compressed with a bamboo roller called makisu.
You can also find it under the name of tamagoyaki nabe, this one is with angular edges accompanied with a wooden press to compact your omelet when it is finished.
Its characteristics
This pan measures about 15x18cm, ideal for 2 people, you can find bigger ones. It is made of aluminum and cast iron, so you can use it on any stove including induction.
It is a fairly light pan so it is very easy to handle. The particularity of our pan is its rounded edge at the end, convenient to take out the tamagoyaki at the end of cooking. Moreover, its sides are quite high which allows to make quite big rolls. The thicker your roll, the more delicious it will be in your mouth.
The tamagoyaki is made by rolling up several layers of dough, the square shape of the pan allows to have a rather dense omelette.
Before cooking, be sure to oil the pan well so that your tamagoyaki does not stick. We also advise you to cook it on low heat. Many recipes contain sugar and mirin, so if you cook on high heat, it could burn quite quickly, which should be avoided.
A very common utensil in Japanese cooking
In Japan, every household has this pan because tamagoyaki is a typical dish made at home and usually cooked by the mother. This omelette evokes “mother’s flavors”. Tamagoyaki is traditionally served for breakfast, and you can find it in bento boxes, sushi and onigirazu (maki sandwich).
Our opinion on the Japanese square pan
We bought a pan on Amazon from the brand Ibili. It is a pan that we use daily and we make very good tamagoyaki !
It’s small but it’s enough for 2 people and as we said earlier its rounded edge is quite practical. It only costs about 15€ which is a good value for money considering the use. It has not moved at all since we have been using it. Be careful not to use metal utensils inside.
Even if its main function is to roll up in several layers, you can use it as a classic frying pan to make fried eggs, sauté vegetables or make sweet or savory Breton pancakes.
You can see our tamagoyaki recipe and also make kakutako, an alternative to takoyaki.