Oyakodon for One

Oyakodon is a classic Japanese ‘Donburi’ (丼ぶり)/ ‘rice bowl’ dish enjoyed at many diners and lunch spots as a fast food dish, or can easily be made at home. The translation of Oyakodon (親子丼) means “parent-and-child rice bowl”, where Chicken (symbolises the parent), egg (symbolises the child), onions, teriyaki sauce and stock are simmered together in a pan to create a flavorful omelet and then served on top of steamed rice with toppings. It is traditionally served with Mistuba, a Japanese flat parsley, however that can be difficult to source, so I’ve substituted it for spring onions as well as suggested a few other optional toppings you can add to create more texture and crunch.

If you’ve already cooked your rice, it will take only 10 minutes to prepare and cook. After trying it once, you’ll fall in love with how delicious and easy it is!

Serves- 1
Ingredients- 10
Cooking Time- 10 minutes 
Skill Level- Easy

Ingredients

• 1 chicken thigh fillet, chopped into small bite sized pieces
• 1 brown onion, chopped into medium sized chunks
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of mirin
• 1 tablespoon of cooking sake
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• ½ cup of dashi (Japanese stock) or chicken stock
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup of freshly cooked rice. Preferably Jasmine, but any rice will work

Toppings

• 1 stalk of spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 pinch of fresh or dried Mitsuba (Japanese flat parsley), optional
• 1 pinch of Shichimi Togarashi, optional
• 1 pinch of nori (seaweed) cut into fine ribbons, optional

Watch the process

Method

1. Prepare all your ingredients before you start cooking.
2. Combine 1 tablespoon of soy sauce,  mirin, sake and sugar together into a bowl. You’ve now made a homemade teriyaki sauce!
3. Heat a small-medium sized pan and place the chicken, onion, teriyaki sauce and ½ cup of dashi to the pan. Bring to the boil and allow to cook for about 3 minutes or until the chicken has fully cooked, turning fully opaque from translucent in colour. 
4. Pour in the 2 lightly beaten eggs evenly over the pan. This creates an omelette around the chicken and onion to fuse all the ingredients together. Cook for another 1-2 minutes on medium heat, ideally with a lid closing the pan to steam. Turn off the heat as soon as the eggs are just about to cook your liking. I prefer to undercook mine when they are 75% cooked as I like my egg mixture to be runnier and mix it later with my rice. Also the residual steam from the hot rice that it will sit on will continue to cook the rice a bit further so be mindful of that. 
5. Whilst the egg is cooking, prepare your rice by tightly packing 1 cup of rice into a small bowl and then turning it upside down into a larger bowl to reveal a perfect mound of rice.
6. Using a spatula or chopsticks slowly transfer the omelette to your bowl of rice, draping it on top and using chopsticks to push the edges in and tucking it into the edges of the bowl
7. Finally, add your choice of toppings. Traditionally Mistuba, a Japanese flat parsley is used, but can be difficult to find, so use spring onions or chives instead. You can also add some nori sheets finely sliced into ribbons and Shichimi Togarashi, a Japanese 7 ingredient spice seasoning to add texture and crunch on top.
8. Serve immediately. Grab a spoonful of the omelette with your rice or mix them in together. Enjoy!