Japanese Recipe Adventures: Oyakodon

When I first moved to Japan, I thought that Japanese food was complicated and time-consuming to make. Cut to my friend telling me about her signature one-pan dish that only needed a handful of ingredients, and I was sold.

Today on Japanese Recipe Adventures, we’ll be making oyakodon, rice topped with onions, fried egg and chicken simmered in a blend of traditional Japanese seasonings. It gets its name from oya (親, parent), ko (子, child) and don (丼, bowl)—literally “parent-and-child donburi.” Pretty dark if you ask me!

This is an excellent recipe to have in your arsenal if you want something tasty but inexpensive and easy to make.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast or thigh
• 1/2 an onion
• 2 eggs (scrambled)
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil

For the oyakodon sauce

• 1/2 cup of dashi (soup stock such as miso, chicken or fish).
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of mirin (sweet rice wine for cooking)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of sugar

Directions for making oyakodon

1. Cut up the chicken breast into uniform pieces.
2. Slice up the onion.
3. Add the vegetable oil to a frying pan and cook on medium heat.
4. Add the sliced chicken and onions (I prefer to cook these a bit before adding the sauce).
5. Combine your oyakodon sauce ingredients and add the mixture to the pan.
6. Cover the pan with a lid, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for five to six minutes.
7. Drizzle in the eggs.
8. After the egg is cooked and settled to your liking, turn off the heat.

Putting it together

1. Distribute the oyakodon over a bowl of cooked rice.
2. You can serve it with any side dish, however, oyakodon is commonly accompanied by a bowl of miso soup.
3. You can also add a bit of garnish such as nori (seaweed) or green onion.

Have you made oyakodon before? What are some of your favorite Japanese dishes? Let us know in the comments!

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