Let's Get Into DONBURI

Topped with chicken and eggs, oyako-don is one of the most popular of the many types of donburi (rice bowl) dishes. The steamed rice in this mild, soothing dish has a fluffy texture. Some people prefer to let their oyako-don toppings run down to the bottom of the bowl and completely mix with the rice, but others favor a less soupy consistency so that they can enjoy the contrast of the toppings and the rice. You can control the runniness according to your personal taste. Here, Mr. Kojiro Saeki, executive chef of Donburi-Ya, shares his step-by-step instructions for cooking scrumptious okayo-don. If you have steamed rice ready to go, you can make this in ten minutes.

Ingredients Serves 1
1 donburi bowl of rice (steamed)
2 oz. chicken thigh (or chicken breast)
with skin
2 eggs
1/6 onion
Green onion to garnish (optional)
Mitsuba leaf to garnish (optional)
Sugar to season (optional)
8 oz. mixed sauce*
(ratio: 4 dashi broth** to 1 soy sauce to 1 mirin)

*You can substitute store-bought udon noodle soup or soba noodle soup for the mixed sauce.
**You can substitute chicken broth for dashi broth.

Steps
1. Slice both onions, cut mitsuba leaf into a 1-inch-long piece, and chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2. Heat mixed sauce in saucepan and add chicken and regular onion. [photo A]
3. Bring to boil, cover saucepan, and boil a couple of minutes until chicken is cooked.
4. Remove cover and add green onion and mitsuba leaf. [photo B]
5. Crack eggs in bowl and stir roughly. Try not to mix egg yolks and egg whites completely. [photo C]
6. Pour eggs over boiling chicken and onions and heat until eggs are half done. [photo D]
7. Remove from heat and pour over steamed rice in donburi bowl.
Note: If you like your toppings in a soupy sauce, you can pour all the oyako-don toppings over the rice. If you prefer less soupy, omelet-style toppings, pour out a bit of the soup before pouring the toppings over your rice.

Tip from Chef Saeki
"It's fine to use regular chicken broth if you can't make Japanese dashi broth, but I recommend you use chicken with skin because the skin gives good umami [savoriness] to the base of the broth."