Oyakodon
"Parent and child" rice bowl: chicken and egg simmered together in dashi-soy broth, set just barely soft, slid onto rice. Sentimental name; comforting dish; ready in fifteen minutes.
Overview
Chicken thigh chunks simmer in dashi-mirin-soy broth with sliced onion until tender, beaten egg is poured in and sets in soft curds, and the lot slides over rice. The egg should still be slightly runny when the heat is turned off.
Ingredients
Broth
- 200 ml dashi
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
To simmer
- 300 g chicken thigh (boneless, skinless, cut into 2 cm pieces)
- 1 onion (thinly sliced)
- 4 eggs (large, lightly beaten, leaving streaks)
To serve
- rice
- 1 spring onion (sliced)
- A pinch of shichimi togarashi (optional)
Method
Stage 1 - Simmer the chicken
- Combine the broth ingredients in a small frying pan and bring to a simmer.
- Add the onion and chicken. Simmer for 5-6 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Stage 2 - Add the egg
- Pour the beaten egg in a slow circular pour over the chicken; don't stir.
- Cover the pan and cook for 30-45 seconds until the egg is just set on top but still glossy.
- Turn off the heat; the residual heat finishes it.
Stage 3 - Plate
- Slide the chicken-egg mixture (with its broth) over a bowl of hot rice.
- Top with spring onion and a pinch of shichimi.
Notes
- Don't beat the egg too much: Streaks of yolk and white give the classic marbled finish; fully blended egg looks like scrambled.
- Pull the egg early: It keeps cooking from residual heat. If it looks fully set in the pan, it'll be hard by the time you eat it.
- Thigh, not breast: Breast goes dry in the simmer; thigh stays juicy.
Storage
- Eat immediately; egg doesn't hold.
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