Oyakodon

Summary

Oyakodon is chicken and egg in seasoned broth over rice in a bowl. Oyako means parents and children, like chicken and egg, and don (donburi) means a bowl. It’s a whole meal in one bowl. It is a healthy dish since everything is boiled with no added oil. Besides being healthy, it is very quick to make and, of course, yummy! Rice absorbs flavorful dashi along with fluffy eggs — it is just delicious!

It is a very typical lunch dish you can get at casual restaurants. Udon noodle shops in Japan often have Oyakodon on their menu probably because they already have very good Dashi (fish broth) for noodles. If you have good broth, your job is half way done anyway. But because we are outside Japan, it is hard to find udon noodle shops and good Oyakodon. Luckily, it is easy to make at home with ingredients that are easy to find anywhere.

If your white rice is covered with meat and things or soaked with some brown sauce, it is usually not a high class dish. And Oyakodon is definitely categorized in B class gourmet. It doesn’t matter though, because it still tastes great.

Our recipe below is for one person because it is easier to make individually, but you can multiply and make a bunch at once in a bigger pan when you serve for your entire family.

Time

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield

One serving

Ingredients

• 1/4cup (60ml) Dashi
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp Sake
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp Mirin
• 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 chicken thigh, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 egg
• 1/2 green onion, thinly sliced
• steamed rice

Method

1. Add Dashi, sugar, Sake, soy sauce and Mirin in a pan. Heat until boiling.
2. Add onion and cook for a minute at medium heat.
3. Add chicken pieces to the pan and cook until the meat is cooked through.
4. Beat egg in a small bowl and pour over the chicken and onion. Cover and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
5. Slide egg and chicken with sauce over rice in a bowl. Sprinkle with green onion.

Source

Japanese Cooking 101