Ingredients
- 2 cups Japanese short-grain rice
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into bite-size pieces
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 cup dashi
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, or more to taste
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 4 large eggs
- 2 scallions, sliced, or 3 sprigs mitsuba
- Togarashi (optional), for serving
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, stir chicken and sake in a bowl. In a measuring cup or bowl, stir dashi, mirin, soy sauce and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add more soy sauce or sugar to taste.
- In a deep medium frying pan (or an oyakodon pan, if you have one), add dashi mixture and then onion. Bring to a simmer over medium-high, then add chicken in a single layer, making sure the dashi mixture covers the chicken and onion.
- Bring the heat down to medium-low. Cook for 2 minutes, then flip each piece of chicken with a pair of cooking chopsticks or tongs. Continue cooking until chicken is just cooked through and onion has softened, about 3 minutes more.
- In a measuring cup or small bowl, lightly beat eggs. Bring the heat up to medium, and add three-quarters of the eggs in a clockwise pattern over the chicken. Allow the mixture to simmer, swirling the pan to ensure the eggs cover it throughout. When the eggs are slightly set, around 1 minute, add the remaining eggs around the pan’s edges in a clockwise fashion. Once again, swirl the pan to ensure coverage.
- Continue to cook the oyakodon to your preferred doneness (less than a minute or so is great), then add scallions (or mitsuba) to the pan.
- Divide the rice among individual bowls, then slide enough of the oyakodon over the rice to cover. Serve immediately and sprinkle with togarashi if preferred.
Full Article
Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophia Pappas.
Oyakodon is pure bliss, combining the ease of lightly poached chicken with the velvety richness of eggs and onions simmered in sauce. In Japanese, oya means parent, while ko translates to child. Consequently, chicken and egg come together in a blend of dashi, mirin and soy sauce. A perfect weekday meal, oyakodon cooks in just under 30 minutes and is delightful alongside pickles and a bowl of miso soup. The chicken and egg bowl is a dream of soulfulness ladled over rice. Leftovers, if you have any, will hold in the refrigerator for a day.