Oyakodon and Japanese Cooking

I first had Oyakodon only in the last few years. I instantly fell in love it though! This dish is very simple, with only a handful of ingredients, yet it packs a lot of flavour in! In my mind, this quite accurately summarises the principles of Japanese cooking. This tends to focus on high quality ingredients, and a minimalist cooking philosophy. The aim is to highlight the natural flavours of the food and harmonise the sweet, salty, sour and umami flavours. See this great article if you want some further reading on this hugely interesting subject!

Oyakodon achieves this harmonisation through the use of mostly liquid ingredients. Recipes make use of dashi and soy sauce to provide saltiness and unaminess. Mirin provides some sweetness and aroma, while sake gives some bitterness to the dish. These flavours amplify the taste of the chicken and season it perfectly. The egg added provides a balance, while also giving colour, textural variety and volume. The end result is a perfectly balanced set of flavours that give a rounded and mouth watering experience!

On top of being delicious, this recipe is very easy to make. There is minimal prep work; just julienning an onion, slicing some spring onion and chopping chicken. This can be pulled together in 25 minutes as a brunch option or as a quick dinner!

Dashi

The ingredient that most of my users will be least familiar with is dashi. You will likely only be unfamiliar with it in terms of it’s name. What I mean by this is you will likely have eaten it before! This is the broth used as the base for miso soup. This broth is almost like a fish stock, and is made from bonito flakes.

Not everyone will be able to eat this, or even find it. I get mine from my local asian supermarket in instant powder sachets. You can also make your own! I would absolutely recommend using it if possible. You can substitute it for fish, chicken or vegetable stock, however it will not have the classic flavour you will get in a Japanese kitchen!

Quick, Easy and Delicious Japanese Oyakodon

Braised chicken in an egg omelette with a sweet, salty and savoury sauce. This dish is quick, easy and delicious. Serve over rice for a great brunch or dinner!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Servings: 2 People

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Asian, Japanese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 400 g Chicken Thighs
• 4 Eggs
• 200 ml Dashi
• 2 tbsp Sake
• 2 tbsp Mirin
• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp White Sugar
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 2 Spring Onions
• 360 g Cooked Rice

Method

 

1. Trim and slice your chicken thighs into small pieces, about 2cm wide pieces.
2. Julienne your onion and finely slice your spring onion greens and set aside.
3. Heat a pan over medium high heat and add in your onions and some cooking oil. Cook the onions for 2 minutes until starting to soften.
4. Add your dashi, mirin, sake, sugar and soy sauce to the pan and heat until simmering.
5. Add the chicken into the pan and mix well. Allow to cook in the broth for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure it cooks evenly.
6. Crack the eggs into two separate bowls and beat until smooth. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
7. Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat.
8. Once the chicken has cooked, spoon half of the chicken and onions into the small pan and add half the broth. Mix in one of the bowls of beaten egg mixture and cover. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the eggs set.
9. After the eggs have cooked, use a spatula, wooden spoon or chopsticks to gently lift the edge of the oyakodon from the pan. Gently slide it from the pan onto a bowl of cooked rice. Garnish with spring onions.
10. Repeat the previous 2 steps with the remaining chicken and onion mixture and beaten egg mixture and serve!