Oyakodon (chicken & egg on rice)

Have you ever heard of a Japanese dish called Oyakodon 親子丼?

It is a quick and easy dish to prepare. One Monday evening, I left work quite late and was hungry, but wanted to eat at home to relax. On my way home I thought about some leftover noodle soup (mixture of bonito broth, soy sauce, sake & mirin) in my fridge as well as frozen chicken and rice in the freezer. I always have eggs in the fridge, so decided to spend 15 minutes in front of the kitchen counter to fix up Oyakodon.

All you need for two servings are:

– 200g chicken thigh (chopped into bite size pieces. better to have some skin for extra flavour)
– Half an onion (thinly sliced)
– 100ml fish broth (freshly made broth from bonito flakes, or you can use the broth powder and melt it into boiled water)
– Soy sauce (approx. 2 tbsp)
– Sake (approx. 1 tbsp)
– Mirin (approx. 3 tbsp) + sprinkle of sugar if preferred
– 3 eggs
– Rice and some Mitsuba leaves (trefoil) or Nori seaweed

Directions:

1) In a frying pan, fry the onion slices (with some cooking oil if you have) until it starts sweating and translucent
2) Add the chicken and cook for a few minutes until lightly brown
3) Add the sake, stir, and then the broth, soy sauce and mirin into the pan (the liquid mixture should just cover the surface of all the ingredients in the pan)
4) Bring it to boil, add sugar, cook for another minute or so
5) Taste the sauce – if it is too salty, add a bit more sake/mirin/sugar. If it’s too blunt, add a little more soy sauce and a bit more sugar. Adjust according to the consistency of your sauce
6) In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, and sprinkle the egg mixture onto the boiling ingredients in the pan (make some circles)
7) Put the lid on the pan, turn the flame off, and let it rest for a few minutes
8) In two medium serving bowls put freshly cooked (or freshly defrosted in my case) rice, gently place the oyakodon mixture along with the sauce
9) Sprinkle the chopped mitsuba leaves or nori seaweed on top of the mixture to add an extra colour and a kick to the taste

All the process above takes only 15 minutes or so.

The name “oyakodon（親子丼）” comes from oya (meaning parent, in this case “chicken”) and ko (child, and here referring “egg”), and don (bowl)…. oya-ko-don. Chicken & egg on a bowl of rice.

There you go!