Perfect one person meal: Oyako Donburi

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 27 June 2006 in Food & Cuisine and Portfolio.

So I have to say that this is the perfect meal for one person. Because it's easy to make, best done in individual portions, and delicious in a warm and comforting way (so you don't feel so lonely when you eat it ha ha). Oyako donburi, which is Japanese for chicken and egg on rice, has been my lunch meal for the past two days. And here's the recipe - try it ya?

Oyako donburi

1 cup dashi*

2tb sugar

4tb mirin

6tb light soy sauce

1/2 onion, sliced thinly

2tb chicken thigh meat, cut into bite size pieces

2 eggs

1. Mix the dashi, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. Divide into four portions. If you're cooking for one, save the other three portions for future use.

2. In a small frying pan, heat up one portion of the mixture (from step 1) on low heat. Arrange the onion slices and chicken thigh meat in the pan, as the sauce heats up. Cover the pan and cook till chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute.

3. In the meantime, crack the eggs in a bowl. Use a pair of chopsticks to draw a couple of "z"s in the bowl.**

4. When chicken meat is no longer pink, pour the eggs into the pan and cook until 90% done. Slip the entire mixture from the pan onto a steaming bowl of rice. Top with seaweed if you like and serve with some sliced cucumber.

* I use instant dashi mix. One packet of mix gives me 5 cups of dashi. So, I usually save the extra 4 cups in the fridge for future use.

** The idea is to mix the yolks and the whites without whisking as whisking would incorporate air into the eggs. The yolks and whites need not be thoroughly mixed together as it's nice for the finished egg to be yellow and white in various parts, instead of being uniformly yellow.

It's best to make oyako donburi individually. This means if you're making for two people, you'll need to repeat the steps a second time to make the second bowl of oyako donburi. Oishi!