Oyako Domburi

Oyako Domburi

This chicken and egg domburi is a very popular dish in Japan. It is made at home and easily found in restaurants. Oya means parent and ko means child, which is the relationship between the chicken and egg. It is made it in four batches as described below, in Japan, which isn’t really as tricky as it may sound. To do that you need to find a small frypan that is a similar width to the domburi or other large individual serving bowl, so that it will fit when placed over the rice. However I prefer to make it in a large frypan all at once, see the note below.

Serves 4

2 chicken thighs (400g to 500g, 1/2 pound), skinless and boneless, sliced and chopped
1 ½ cups Japanese stock (bonito dashi)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Japanese soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (or white sugar)

1 small onion, halved and sliced lengthways
4 eggs, lightly beaten
8 sprigs trefoil (mitsuba), or substitute Italian parsley, cut into 1 inch (3cm) pieces.

6 – 8 cups hot cooked rice

1.       Divide the rice evenly into four domburi or other large individual serving bowls.

2.       In a large saucepan gently heat together the stock, salt, soy sauce and mirin. Add the chicken and onions and gently boil until cooked.

3.       Ladle a quarter of the chicken and stock mixture into a small frypan, then pour a quarter of the eggs into the mixture, add the trefoil (or parsley) and cover the pan, simmering until just set.

4.       Slide the egg mixture onto the rice in the domburi. Repeat for 3 remaining serves. Eat at once.

Note: If step 2 and 3 sound too fiddly, or you don’t have the right sized frypan, just use a large frypan. Tip, to make it easier, ladle all of the chicken and onion into the large frypan but reserve about ¾ cup liquid (half of it). The egg will set easier this way. Then cut the oyako into 4 quarters, and slide each onto a different domburi bowl of rice. Pour over the reserved liquid and sprinkle with the trefoil or parsley.

Variations:

Beef and Egg; Tanin domburi uses beef instead of chicken. Tanin means people who are unrelated. Cows (beef) and eggs are not related.
Oysters and Egg domburi; Subsitute oysters for the chicken, I once ate this at Miyajima Island, the oysters there are famous and very good, being fat and mild in flavour, they were excellent in this dish.
Mushroom and Egg domburi; Subsitute mushrooms for the chicken, I once I ate this at Nikko, near the famous red bridge. It was delicious and very reasonably priced. I can’t remember what type of mushrooms it had but I think any would work well.
Vegetable domburi;  English spinach or peas can also be added, to the egg mixture with or without the chicken.
Chicken only domburi; omit the egg. Peas can be added to the chicken mixture.