Oyakadon (Japanese Chicken & Egg Rice Bowl) Recipe

"A quick and easy one-pot dish that's totally Japanese comfort food. Using homemade dashi is easy to do, but not necessary for this simple dish, which has so many other strong flavors to compensate. Mitsuba is a Japanese herb similar to parsley and can be found in Japanese grocery stores, but you can omit if not easily available. Togarashi is Japanese chili powder, which comes in both ichimi (chilies only) and shichimi (chilies blended with other dried aromatics) versions. Either will work. For a much richer dish, use 4 eggs, reserving 2 of the yolks for use as a garnish when serving. Recipe from Kenji Lopez."

Step by Step Method

Step 1

Combine dashi, soy sauce, sake, and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over high heat. Adjust heat to maintain a strong simmer. Stir in onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is half tender, about 5 minutes.

Step 2

Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring and turning chicken occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and broth has reduced by about half, 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 3

Stir in half of scallions and all of mitsuba (if using), then season broth to taste with more soy sauce or sugar as desired. The sauce should have a balanced sweet-and-salty flavor.

Note: If using four eggs, add the two extra whites in with the 2 eggs in next step. Save the two yolks for step #5

Step 4

Reduce heat to a bare simmer. Beat eggs lightly with chopsticks in a medium bowl. Pour eggs into pot in a thin, steady stream, holding your chopsticks over edge of bowl to help distribute eggs evenly. Cover and cook until eggs are cooked to desired doneness, about 1 minute for runny eggs or 3 minutes for medium-firm.

Step 5

To Serve: Transfer hot rice to a single large bowl or 2 individual serving bowls. Top with egg and chicken mixture, pouring out any excess broth from saucepan over rice. Add an extra egg yolk to center of each bowl, if desired (see note above). Garnish with remaining half of sliced scallions and togarashi. Serve immediately