Oyako Donburi

Posted November 23rd, 2010 in Food 4 Comments »

Today’s recipe is oyako-donburi. (^0^)  This dish has been one of my favorite food since I was a baby!  I just love the sweet sauce and soft egg….

I don’t use shop-bought dashi powder anymore to make dashi stock.  It may contain MSG and other things, and I thought it tastes better when I make my own dashi.  I just need bonito flakes and it’s so easy to make.  You can also use dashi-konbu (seaweed) or dried shiitake mushroom to make dashi, but I like the bonito-based dashi the best.

As you may know, “oyako” literally means “parent and child”.  Oyako-donburi is a dish which a parent and a child are in a same bowl.  So, chicken + egg is oyako, and salmon and salmon caviar can be oyako too.

Normally, chicken thigh is used for oyako-donburi in Japan.  You can use chicken breast if you can’t eat chicken thigh or prefer lighter taste.  (although I recommend using chicken thigh)

First, we make dashi stock.  Although the recipe for oyako-donburi below is for 1 portion, it’s easier to make dashi stock in bigger portion.  You can keep the reft over of dashi stock in the fridge for 1 week, and it can be used to make udon or soba later.  If you are making oyako-donburi for 4~5 people, the amount of dashi stock may be just about right.

dashi

• 3 cups (750ml) water
• 5g bonito flakes

• 50g chicken thigh (or breast)
• 40g onion (1 x tiny onion)
• 2 eggs
• 100ml dashi stock
• 10ml soy sauce
• 5ml mirin
• 5ml sake (cooking wine)
• 5g sugar
• 150g steamed rice

1. Cut chicken into pieces.  Slice onion.
2. Place dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, chicken pieces and onion in a small sauce pan or frying pan.  Bring to the gentle boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Lightly beat eggs in a bowl – just one or two whisking is enough.  Turn up the heat of the simmering chicken, and pour the eggs slowly into the pan.  Turn down the heat and place a lid.  When the eggs are cooked half-way through but still remains raw part, turn off the heat and leave for 15 seconds.
4. Pour the egg sauce over steamed rice, and enjoy!

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