16. [BME] 親子丼 Oyakodon recipe (chicken and egg rice bowl)
Oyakodon has such a funny name. To understand what it means, it's best to translate the name into English.
親 "Oya"=parent;
子 "ko" = child;
丼 "don" = donburi (rice bowl)
It literally means "mother child bowl". This name is laced with such dark commentary and it's hilarious to me (it's just a chicken and egg rice bowl).
This meal is such a delight to make- a soupy rice bowl with bite-sized chicken and softly cooked egg. Oyakodon has layers upon layers of textures- salty-sweet onions, melted in soy sauce, sake, and mirin, sprigs of scallions, etc. It is made by cooking the chicken and a beaten egg in a stock (dashi and soy sauce). Once the chicken and egg are cooked, they are placed on top of a bowl of rice. The rice will absorb the chicken and egg flavor!
This dish is so inexpensive and quick to prepare. Many Japanese "salarymen" eat this for lunch. Some people told me that you should eat it from the "bottom up", starting with the rice and picking and eating some of the proteins at the top of it, so that there's always some broth and toppings soaked by the rice. It's a really simple dish, I absolutely love it. I cooked it the other day with my cousins.
Preparing the beaten egg mix while the broth's going
Oyakodon
Prep time: 30-45 minutes
Serving size: 2+ people
Ingredients
Protein:
2 chicken thighs (deboned and sliced into bite-sized pieces)
4 eggs
Vegetables:
1 onion (thinly sliced)
2 scallions (thinly sliced)
Flavoring:
6 tablespoons dashi
2 tablespoons dry sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
Make the sauce. Combine dashi, sake, mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
Prepare the proteins. Heat a non-stick skillet/pot in medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces. Transfer them to a cutting board. Beat the eggs
Cook the vegetables. Add half of the sliced onions to the non-stick skillet/pot (wipe any excess grease). Add half of the sauce from step 1. Simmer the onions and sauce for 1-2 mins.
Add the proteins. Add the chicken pieces back into the non-stick skillet/pot. Simmer for a couple minutes (until the chicken is cooked like, white on the outside). Add the eggs around the non-stick skillet/pot. Don't touch it.
Let it cook. Add the sliced scallions and change the heat to low. Cover the pan with a lid. Eggs should be a lil wobbly, but not raw.
Serve with rice. Share and enjoy.
I drank some pink vodka cocktail carbonated drink in a cutesy bunny cup with my Oyakodon
~ neither a mother, nor a child, but yet- somehow.. both...
<3 K