Oyako don

Oyako don

A Japanese rice bowl where chicken and egg are simmered together in a savoury dashi sauce — oyako means “parent and child”. Use a frying pan about 27 cm in diameter with high sides and a fitting lid, or a smaller one and cook in two batches.

  • 🍳 Cook time: 20 mins
  • 🍽️ Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 250 g boned chicken thigh, with or without skin, in slices/bite-size pieces
  • 4 servings freshly cooked short-grain rice
  • 3 dl (190 g) finely sliced yellow onion
  • 2 salad onions, finely sliced, the white and green parts kept separate
  • 6 eggs
  • Shichimi or sansho pepper (optional)
  • Salt

Sauce

  • 2 1/2 dl dashi (or store-bought)
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
  • 1 tsp finely grated ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

  1. Sauce: Bring the sauce ingredients to the boil in a frying pan over high heat.
  2. Add the onion and the white part of the salad onion to the sauce and boil for 1 min with the lid on. Lightly salt the chicken, add it and fry for 1–2 mins. Stir, put the lid back on and cook for a further 1–2 mins.
  3. Beat the eggs into a loose mixture and salt lightly. Take off the lid and raise the heat so the liquid boils properly. Drizzle the egg over the pan and stir with chopsticks in a zigzag from one edge of the pan to the other. Lower to low heat, put the lid on and simmer 2–3 mins. Turn off the heat and leave covered for a further 1–2 mins until the eggs have just set but are still a little loose.
  4. Divide the rice between 4 bowls, top with the chicken and egg and the green part of the salad onion, and serve with a little shichimi pepper if you like.