What’s Oyako-Don?
What’s Donburi Dish?
“Donburi” literally refers to “A bowl” in Japanese, and the dish called “Donburi”, “Don” or “Don-mono” means is other food on the rice and eat them together.
It can be served quickly and you can eat it quickly, Donburi meal is a traditional fast food in Japan for a long.
The popular Donburi dishes are,
- Oyako Don
- Ten Don…Tempura on the rice
- Gyo Don…Simmered thinly sliced beef on the rice
- Buta Don…Simmered thinly sliced pork on the rice
- Katsu Don…Pork cutlet and simmered egg/ shredded cabbage on the rice
- Kaisen Don…Sashimi seafood on the rice
- Yakiniku Don…Japanese BBQ beef (or other meat) on the rice
- Dote Don…Stewed Tendon on the rice
What’s Oyako Meaning
Oyako Don is simmered chicken and beaten eggs on the rice.
Oyako literally means “a parent (parents) and his/her child (their children)”.
Since the chicken is a parent of the egg, so this dish is called “Oyako-Don”.
Contrary, the donburi dish made of other meat and simmered eggs is called “Tanin-Don”, which means “the strangers don”.
The Taste Of Oyakodon
Oyako Don topping, chicken chunks, and beaten eggs are simmered in the traditional Japanese basic broth called “Warishita”.
Warishita is made of Dashi broth, dark soy sauce, sake, mirin, and often sugar.
It is often used for Sukiyaki, Japanese noodle dishes, and Donburi dishes.
As you can imagine, the dish made of Warishita is sweet, salty, and gentle dashi flavor.
Oyak Don is served with very runny eggs on the soupy rice.
In the Donburi dish, all ingredients should be put in your mouth together to enjoy combining all flavors.
Also, the rice can make the strong warishita flavor mild, and also the Japanese enjoy the runny eggs with toppings and the rice.
Is Oyako-Don Healthy?
Although the Donburi dish is delicious and addictive, it is known as a high-calorie, high-cabs, rich sodium meal in Japan.
Roughly, the total calorie of Oyako Don will be around 630n kcal.
As breaking down the calories,
- 1 cup of Japanese rice…250 kcal
- 1/2 Chicken (Thighs)…about 58 kcal
- 1/4 Onion…12 kcal
- 3 whole eggs…234 kcal
- 1 tbsp of Dark Soy sauce…8.5 kcal
- 1 tbsp of Sugar…48 kcal
- Sake…20 kcal
When you’ll try to reduce calories, for example, switch the chicken thighs to breast or switch the rice to cauliflower rice/tofu.
Ingredients
Warishita Soup (Oyakodon Sauce)
- Kombu Dashi Broth
- Dark Soy Sauce
- Japanese Sake/ White wine
- Sugar
To make Oyako don, Kombu dashi broth is more suitable rather than Bonito broth since Kombu dashi doesn’t bother other ingredients’ flavor.
It is not too hard to make homemade kombu dashi if you have dashi kombu, so check this post out on how to make kombu dashi.
For more easier and quicker to get kombu dashi broth, use instant dashi powder which is the must item if you like Japanese cooking.
I always declare this in my blog, I don’t use mirin at all in my recipes, because I don’t need it.
So, I use sugar and sake/ white wine to substitute for mirin.
Eggs
Generally, use 2-3 whole eggs to make 1 serving of Oyako Don.
As an iconic Japanese dish, you can’t overcook eggs.
To avoid making an egg omelet, I’ll tell you some tips for cooking eggs perfectly.
*Avoid eating raw eggs for elderly people, young children, and pregnant people.
Tools
Do you need “a donburi pan” to make the perfect donburi dish?
Well, personally, I don’t use it.
However, it’s handy to pour the topping on the rice and cook quickly especially made of aluminum like Yukihira nabe. Also, it often comes with the lid, so it’ll be the special kitchen item for the bragging topic at a party if you’re a cooking enthusiast.
Oyako-Don: Japanese Chicken And Egg On Rice
Equipment
- 1 non-stick small frying pan/ oyako-don pot
- 1 Donburi bowl
- 1 spatula
Ingredients
- 12 oz Chicken thigh/ breast/ leftover roast chicken/ Yakitori chicken or Karaage chicken
- ¼ Onion, sliced
- 3 whole eggs, separated white and yolks
- 1 TSP potato/ corn starch
- 1 TSP water
- 1 cup cooked rice
Warishita (Oyako-don soup)
- ½ cup Kombu dashi broth/ ½ cup Water + ½ tsp of dashi powder
- ½ tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Japanese sake/ white wine
- 1 tbsp sugar
garnishes
- chopped chive, scallion, coriander, Italian parsley
- pickled ginger (*Beni-shoga)
- Shichimi Togarashi *1)
- Yuzu kosho *2)
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- Gather ingredients.Make Kombu dashi in this post.
- Separate yolks and white. Mix white gently cutting straight through the egg white lumps, about 10 times. Avoid whisking. Break yolks without mixing them.
- Slice ¼ onion, and microwave for 30 seconds.
- Combine the starch and water in a small bowl.
Cook Toppings
- Trim a chicken thigh or breast and cut the meat into bite-size. You can use leftover roast chicken, fried chicken, and Yakitori/ Karaage chicken. Cut them into bite-size.
- In an 8-inch non-stick frying pan, add dashi broth (water-added dashi powder), sake/wine, dark soy sauce, sugar, and onions, then, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken and continue cooking for about 3 minutes or until the raw chicken is cooked.
- Remix the starch solution since it'll be separated. Add it to the warishita soup. Immediately, stir well. Simmer for about 2 minutes over medium-high/ medium heat.
- Add the white gently from the center to the edge drawing the circle. Stir once or twice. Continue simmering for about 1-2 minutes.
- When the white gets cooked partially, add the yolks from the center to the edge.
- Simmer the topping until the yolk cooks how you like.
- Meanwhile, prepare the rice in a bowl.
- Top with the simmered chicken and eggs together, pouring out any excess broth from the pan over rice. Use the spatula if needed.
- Garnish with the ingredient on the list. Serve immediately.