Chicken

Thigh or breast fillets? Thigh fillet is preferred in Asia. It is also my personal choice. But I had trimmings from chicken drumettes. The drumette is connected to the breast so those trimmings were part of the breast meat. And I used them in this dish. The upside of using breast meat? The cooking time is so much shorter. After all, overcook chicken breast meat and it comes out dry.

Onions

Red or yellow? Yellow is traditional but there’s been a severe white / yellow onion shortage in the Philippines for almost half a year, driving the prices to dizzying heights. So, red onions in this recipe.

There is no frying nor sauteing in this recipe. Just boil the sauce, and add the onions and chicken. When the chicken is done, pour in beaten eggs and sprinkle in the scallions. Now, all you need to do is to ladle all that into bowls of rice. Let’s illustrate all that in photos.

Making oyakodon sauce with dashi, sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar before adding sliced onions

Start by pouring dashi, sake, mirin and soy sauce into a wok or shallow pan. Allow to boil for a few minutes to let the alcohol burn off and for the flavors to blend and deepen. That’s your sauce.

Then, take your onion slices and scatter over the surface of the sauce.

Simmering chicken, beaten eggs and scallions to make oyakodon

Now take your sliced chicken fillets and scatter over the onion slices. Lower the heat to medium and cook (uncovered to reduce and concentrate the sauce some more) until the chicken is done. Depending on the thickness of the chicken pieces, this will take anywhere from five to seven minutes.

Drizzle half of the eggs over the chicken. Do this in a circular motion so that the eggs are spread evenly. Sprinkle scallions over the eggs and chicken.

When the eggs are firm, drizzle in the remaining eggs and top with more scallions. Turn off the heat and leave for ten seconds until the second portion of eggs is cooked but still moist and jiggly.

Ladle your oyakodon into bowls of rice and have a great meal.

Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl (oyakodon)

Connie Veneracion

The trick to moist eggs? Drizzle over the chicken in two portions. The first portion cooks thoroughly; the second, just barely. Old dish, new cooking technique.

By using more mirin, adding sugar becomes unnecessary.

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Course Main Course

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

1 cup dashi if using instant dashi, dissolve a tablespoon in a cup of water
6 tablespoons mirin
4 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 cups thin slices of chicken fillets I like to keep the skin on but you can remove it, cut into slices about a quarter inch thick
2 medium onions peeled and thinly sliced
6 eggs lightly stirred
½ cup sliced scallions light and dark green portions of the leaves, separated

Instructions

With the heat on high, pour the dashi, mirin, sake and soy sauce into a wok or shallow pan. Allow to boil uncovered for two minutes.
Scatter the sliced onions into the boiling sauce.
Spread the sliced chicken over the onions. Bring to the boil. If you see scum rising to the surface, skim it off.
Lower the heat to medium and cook uncovered just until the chicken is done.
Drizzle half of the stirred eggs over the chicken and sprinkle in the light green portion of the scallions. Allow the eggs to cook fully.
Drizzle in the remaining half of the eggs, sprinkle in the dark green portion of the scallions, turn off the heat and leave for ten seconds.
Ladle the chicken and egg mixture over cooked rice. Serve your oyakodon immediately.