OyakoDon - The Authentic Japanese Way - eckitchensg (2024)

Oyakodon(親子丼) ~ A comforting bowl of Soft, Fluffy, Egg that soaked up the intensely flavoredDashi-Shoyu Broth, with a well-charred Succulent Chicken Thigh, top over a bowl of warm, fluffy Japanese Rice. It also means Parent and Son Bowl in Japanese.

The eggs are whipped and poured over the broth, allowing the bottom of the egg to absorb the flavor of the broth while the top of the egg is still runny. The broth is then thickened by the egg and when poured over the rice, it’s not overly soupy with just theright amount of eggy gravy that flow through and coat the rice grains with the gravy. It’s just heavenly.

Top with a raw egg yolk for a creamier and richer mouthfeel.

Making this dish is very simple although I tested a few times before posting this recipe. Reason being, I want to achieve a perfect egg to broth ratio. Too much broth will lead to an excessively wet bowl of rice that lost the original richness of the dish.

After much testing and experimenting, this recipe definitely churned outone of themost impressive Oyakodon you ever had ~ guaranteed rich and flavorful for every mouthful!

Ingredients required are very simple. All you need is chicken thigh, eggs of course, and a well-flavored broth that is made up by shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), mirin, sake, sugar, dashi powder and water.

1st, Pan fried the chicken. This step is optional. You can just dice the chicken and cook it in the broth. I prefer to pan-fry the chicken first to add more flavors and texture to the chicken.

Do remember to pat dry the chicken thigh with kitchen tissue before seasoning. You do not want the residue water on the thigh to cause the oil to splatter all over you and the kitchen.

Pan fry with skin side up to cook the meat of the chicken first for about 2 to 3 min or until golden brown over medium heat. Cover with lid to avoid the splattering of the oil and also in a way to “steam” and cook the chicken a bit more.

Flip the chicken thigh to skin side down to char the skin until golden brown for about another 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the thigh to a chopping board and cut the chicken into cubes. Do not worry if the thigh is not cooked thoroughly. You will be cooking the chicken again in the broth.

Prepare the broth in a small mixing bowl. Add the broth and sliced onion into the same pan you used to pan fry the chicken. If you did not pan fry the chicken, just use any frying pan.

Add the cubed chicken, with skin side up and cook for another 3 minutes over medium-low heat.

Pour the egg mixture and distribute evenly over the broth. Close the lid and allow it to simmer for 30 sec until the bottom of the egg is cooked and the top is still slightly runny.

Remove the pan from the heat and slide the egg-chicken-gravy over a bowl of rice. Sprinkle with spring onions and top the rice with a raw egg yolk (optional).

*I prefer to use a small frying pan – for 1 person serving so that I can slide the whole pan of egg-chicken-gravy into 1 bowl perfectly. Of course, if you are cooking for a big family, you can cook everything together in one big and shallow frying pan and portion the egg-chicken-gravy into each bowl

This recipe is meant to serve 1 very hungry individual. If you are making for a family of 4 for example, you can simply multiply the ingredients by 4. IF you want to cook the egg-chicken-gravy for each person individually, just ladle 1 scoop of dashi-shoyu broth (approx. 100 ml each scoop) for every portion. Alternatively, just cook everything in 1 pan and divide into each portion later.