Oyaku don – Chicken and egg rice bowl

Oyaku don falls under the heading of comfort food.  That is, until you understand what the name actually means.  It is normally translated as chicken and egg rice bowl.  But actually the Kanji characters mean parent and child rice bowl.  Now as far as I am concerned this is a little two close to the truth, so I’ll stick with the chicken and egg story.  I think it tastes better that way.

The recipe is very simple.

Mix half a kilo of chicken (bite size boneless pieces) with a handful of chopped onion.

In a pan over medium heat combine 1/4 cup of stock, 2 tablespoons of sake, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of mirin and 2 tablespoons of soy.  When it boils, add the chicken/onion.  When the chicken is just cooked through, swirl in 3 lightly beaten eggs and simer for half a minute.

This half cooked eggy, chickenny mix is slid out of the pan onto a bowl full of hot rice.

It makes a great quick meal on a cold winter’s night, especially if you curl up in front of the TV to eat it.  But I do recomend that you stick to the standard transliteration and forget all about the fact that