Oyakodon

There are many types of 丼ぶり(donburi) dishes in Japan. Donburi is a bowl of rice topped with various foods. Today, I’m going to introduce one of them called  “親子丼(Oyakodon)“. I truly hope you give it a try!

What is Oyakodon?

親子丼(Oyakodon) is one of the most popular donburi dishes here in Japan. The main ingredients are chicken and eggs. The chicken is cooked in dashi/ Japanese broth flavored with soy sauce and mirin, then it’s covered with fluffy eggs. Although the soup used for this dish has a strong flavor, adding beaten eggs makes the taste mild and pleasant. Also, this combination goes amazingly well with freshly cooked Japanese rice.

In most cases, the name of the donburi dishes includes the ingredients on the rice. However, the name “oyakodon” doesn’t have the exact name of the food.

The literal translation of 親子丼(oyakodon) is “parent and child rice bowl”. It probably sounds strange and a bit cruel, but this name represents the main ingredients, chicken and egg. As I mentioned above 親(oya) means parent “Chicken”, and 子(ko) means child “egg” in this particular dish.

Oyakodon is served in many places in Japan such as diners, bento shops, convenience stores, etc., it seems it is also available in other countries. Of course, you can enjoy making it at home!

Ingredients

Other than the essential ingredients of chicken and eggs, many people also like to include onion in this dish. I believe yellow onion is the most commonly used, but other types such as long or spring onions can be used for oyakodon. It completely depends on the person, but I recommend using one of them to enjoy the flavor and texture. 

Also, Japanese herb “三つ葉(mitsuba)” is often used for oyakodon. It looks similar to cilantro/ coriander. They belong to the parsley family.

The aroma of mitsuba is much more subtle and elegant than cilantro. It is often used for authentic Japanese dishes. It can be used as a garnish or lightly cooked with other ingredients. Adding this herb takes your oyakodon to the next level. However, I bet mitsuba is not easy to get in other countries and it’s a bit expensive even in Japan.
In my opinion, oyakodon by itself is delicious enough even if it doesn’t include mitsuba. I don’t think it’s necessary to make an effort to find it when you make oyakodon at home.

Oyako pan (a special pan for oyakodon)

Usually, each serving of oyakodon is made individually using this small shallow pan called “Oyako nabe”. This pan is very helpful when you slide the cooked ingredients over the rice. You can buy one easily in Japan. However, I don’t think every Japanese household has this special pan. It is common to substitute a small frying pan for it. 

When I make more than 2 servings of oyakodon at home, I always use a larger pan to simmer chicken and onion with soy sauce flavored soup. Then divide it into a small pan for each serving, and pour beaten eggs in it as you can see in the picture below.

If you want to make multiple servings, you can also directly pour the eggs into a larger pan.

Oyakodon

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by MikaCuisine: JapaneseDifficulty: medium

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 bowls of cooked rice

• 200 g chicken thigh (7oz)

• 1/2 yellow onion (about 100g/ 3.5oz)

• 4 eggs (2 eggs for each serving)

• Flavored soup

• 100 ml dashi stock (about 3.5oz)

• 60 ml hon-mirin (2oz/ 4tbsp)

• 40 ml soy sauce (1.3 oz/ 2 2/3 tbsp)

Directions

• You want these ingredients below.
• Cut the yellow onion into 0.5cm(0.2in) slices.
• Cut the chicken into small pieces.
• Combine the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce in a medium pan. Add the
  onion and cover with a lid while heating them over high heat.
• Once the soup has heated, add the chicken, place the lid back on the pan and turn the heat down to medium. Cook the ingredients for about 3 minutes.
• In the meantime, slightly beat 2 of the eggs for the next process.
• Place half the amount of cooked ingredients in a small pan and heat it.
• Pour half of the eggs into the pan starting in the center making your way to the edge in a circular motion. Put the lid on the pan and cook the ingredients over medium-high heat until the egg has become half cooked.
• Pour the rest of the egg into the pan. Turn off the heat and return the lid. Let it sit for about 30 more seconds to cook the egg using the remaining heat.
• Slide the ingredients over the bowl of rice.
• When you want to make multiple servings at the same time.
• You can skip step no.7. Pour half the amount of beaten egg into the pan in the same way as step no.8.
• When the egg becomes half cooked, pour the remaining egg in the pan and cook it like step no.9.
• Carefully scoop the cooked ingredients with a spoon and slide them over the rice in a bowl. Repeat the same motion a few times until the rice is fully covered.

Notes

• This is not what everyone does, but If you let the simmered ingredients cool down before adding the beaten eggs, your oyakodon becomes more delicious. The soup soaks into the ingredients as they are cooling down. You can also preserve the simmered chicken and onion (step no.5) in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, and quickly make lunch or dinner on your busy day.

Thank you for allowing me to share my recipe with you. I hope to see you again soon.

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