Oyakodon
Oyakodon is a rice bowl topped with chicken and egg simmered together in a sweet soy dashi broth, its name literally meaning «parent-and-child bowl», a wry reference to the chicken and egg sharing the same dish. It belongs to the donburi family of rice bowl dishes that became popular across Japan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as cheap, filling meals for busy city workers. The dish is typically finished with the egg only half set, so a soft, custardy layer clings to the chicken and onion before it is slid on top of the rice. The dish is often traced to a Tokyo restaurant near the Kabuki theater district, where a nineteenth-century proprietor is said to have first served chicken and egg together over rice for actors and stagehands short on time between performances. Today nearly every casual eatery serving donburi has its own version, ranging from a barely set, almost soupy egg to a firmer, more fully cooked topping. Oyakodon remains one of the simplest and most comforting dishes in Japanese home cooking, built from ingredients nearly every kitchen already has on hand.
Chicken and egg simmered together
Chicken thigh and sliced onion simmer in a sweet soy dashi broth before being crowned with softly set egg.
A gently set egg topping
The beaten egg is added in two pours and cooked only briefly, so it stays soft and slightly custardy.
Slid straight onto rice
The finished chicken, onion, and egg mixture is slid directly over a bowl of hot rice so the broth soaks in.
A parent-and-child bowl
The name oyakodon literally means «parent and child bowl», a playful nod to the chicken and egg sharing the dish.
Ingredients 4 servings
- 500g boneless chicken thigh, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 600ml dashi stock
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 600g cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- 2 stalks mitsuba or scallion, chopped
How to make it
- 1Combine the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small shallow pan and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- 2Add the sliced onion and cook for a couple of minutes until it softens slightly in the simmering broth.
- 3Lay the chicken pieces over the onion in a single layer and simmer until the meat is cooked through.
- 4Pour half of the beaten eggs evenly over the chicken and onion, then cover the pan and let it set for a moment.
- 5Drizzle the remaining egg over the top, cover again, and cook just until the egg is barely set but still glossy and soft.
- 6Slide the pan off the heat while the center of the egg still looks slightly underdone, since the residual heat will finish it.
- 7Slide the chicken, onion, and egg mixture over a bowl of hot rice, then scatter chopped mitsuba on top before serving.
Nutritional info
per serving (~400 ml)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
