Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl (Oyakodon)
Oyakodon is one of the classic Japanese home-cooking dishes. I think the name of the food is interesting because, in Japanese, oyako means parent and child, and don is a short form of donburi which means rice bowl. This dish is used mainly chicken and egg, that is where this name came from. You can call food with a combination of parent-child like salmon and ikura (salmon roe) oyako-something but people usually expect chicken and egg rice bowl when they hear oyakodon.
I believe a rice bowl always makes you fulfilled only itself. Especially Japanese rice bowl usually has some different ingredients well-balanced vegetables and meat, and appealing of its looks. What I like about this dish is the interesting harmony of runny egg and filling chicken. Its condiments include dashi which gives it more flavor and umami.
This dish is a simple cooking. When I explored the recipes of oyakodon, people usually make it with say sauce, mirin, and cooking sake. And I had tested cooking it to find the best ratio of these condiments many times. But one day I realized they are just parts of the ingredients of mentsuyu and it has already a perfect balance of 3 condiments. Then I found it easier and more delicious with mentsuyu in this dish. Since then I always cook it with mentsuyu. In this recipe, all you need is 5 ingredients below, chicken thigh, egg, onion, water, and mentusyu. I usually keep noodles soup base triple-strength at home. There are a few types of soup, straight, double-strength, and triple-strength. If you have a different type of one, then you need to adjust the amount of water. Make sure which one you have at home or when you buy one before cooking. For the chicken, I use skin-on chicken thighs but you can use either skin-on or skinless chicken thighs whatever you prefer. Since I use skin-on chicken thighs, I don’t simmer all the ingredients together but cook the chicken first to make chicken skin nicely crispy and brown which I believe makes it juicier and gives umami itself.
- 250 g Chicken thigh (Skin-on)
- 3 Eggs
- ½ Onios
- 100 ml Water
- 50 ml Mentsuyu (Noodle soup base(triple-strength))
- Preparation
Get all the ingredients and condiments.
- Prepare the ingredients
First, cut the boneless chicken thigh into bite-size. Second, cut the onion into wedges or slice it, as you like. It will not be simmered for so long, so if you don’t like the texture of fresh onions, I recommend slicing it. Last, beat eggs roughly. It doesn't have to be beaten very well.
-You may get rid of unwanted fat from chicken thighs. - Cook the ingredients
Heat a pan over medium-high heat, and put cooking oil on the pan. Place chicken thighs skin side down in the pan and cook until skin gets crispy. Flip the chicken thighs and cook another few minutes. Add onions and saute until it gets a semi-clear color.
-You may press chicken thighs with a spatula or chopsticks to help chicken skin get crispy and nicely brown. - Season it
Add mentsuyu and water to the pan.
- Add eggs
Once the soup boils pour the egg two times separately. Pour more than half of the beaten eggs, the first time. When the eggs get half heated, add the rest of the eggs. Simmered it on low heat with a lid for a few seconds until the eggs get nicely cooked.
- Dish up
Put rice into a bowl add the dish on it, and help yourself.
-You may add Japanese parsley on top, I usually use green onion instead but you may also use radish sprouts, mizuna green, pea sprouts, coriander, and so on.
