Oyako Donburi Hmmm, Maybe the Chicken and the Egg Came Together?
I am soooo excited! We are adding a new category to 3Jamigos! The kids have flown the coop and are making their own way, Jeff in the City close by (yippee), Jorge in Korea teaching (so far away) and Jams currently working and freezing her tush off in Minneapolis (half of so far away). Luckily we have FaceTime, phones, texting and when that just won’t do, flights. Just an airplane ride away.
A California-Texas kinda gal, winter in Minneapolis is a new experience for Jamie. Down jackets, scarves and gloves are now a part of her wardrobe vernacular, as is staying indoors. The winter weather has her looking for activities inside to keep her busy. For Christmas, we gave her knitting needles, yarn and starter lessons from Wes on how to knit. Big hit, knitting up a storm haha.
Jamie has always loved to bake and cook. She’s a natural, and with this weather, she has been doing alot more cooking and baking.
A recent call went like this:
Mui (her nickname): Mom, can you send me your Oyako Donburi recipe? Is it easy to make?
Me: Sure. Yep, it’s pretty easy. One pan, a couple of eggs, chicken, and onions.
Mui: That sounds good, I love rice bowls and I can bring the leftovers to work.
LIGHTBULB MOMENT: Hey, why don’t we both make Oyako Donburi and then post about it? You have done spots before on 3Jamigos. We’ll alternate picking recipes to make and blog about!
THUS a new 3jamigos category was born, M&M which stands for Mom and Mui. Mui means little sister. We have been calling Jamie Mui since Day One.
Oyako Donburi is the perfect dish to launch M&M. Chicken, sliced shiitake mushrooms, onions are cooked in a savory-sweet sauce of soy sauce, sake, dashi. Lightly beaten eggs are then poured on top of the chicken and sauce and simmered until just cooked through, then the chicken and egg mixture is placed on top of hot rice. Watch your kids, hubby, neighbors, everybody gobble it up. So delicious, classic Japanese soul food.
So without further adieu, our inaugural M&M post by Jamie on making Oyako Donburi in cold & snowy Minneapolis.
HELLOOOO WORLD/readers of 3jamigos.com. It’s ME. J A M I E. Ya know, that crazy girl who moved to Minneapolis to live in -30 DEGREE WEATHER. Nope, that wasn’t a typo. It really was NEGATIVE 30 on my drive into work last week. GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL PEOPLE. (I know that doesn’t really make sense, but global warming is causing polar vortexes normally over THE NORTH POLE to break apart and dip down to lower parts of the globe). It’s so cold that you can’t stand outside with exposed skin for more than 5 minutes without getting frostbite. FROSTBITE. Schools were closed. The roads were empty. But I still had to go to work. Once I got over that, it really wasn’t bad. They are GREAT about paving and salting the roads, so it was actually a breeze getting to and from work.
BUT enough about me. Let’s talk about the fact that my mom and I decided to start a mother-daughter blog where we cook the same dish separately and talk about it, AND THE FIRST DISH WE PICKED JUST HAPPENED TO TRANSLATE TO “Parent (chicken) and child (egg).” Damn, we are GOOD, people. You couldn’t even make this stuff up. I mean, I guess you could. It would make a great lifetime/hallmark movie. Ok. Enough interruptions. Let’s get down to the food.
Okayo Donburi. The ultimate comfort food. It’s a mix of chicken and eggs (parent and child) with a sweet/salty/chickeny sauce and sautéed onions. Pour it over some rice, and all the stresses of your day melt away. The best part? It is SO easy to make.
Chop up some onions, slice some mushrooms, toss it into the pan with some chicken broth, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar, and top it off with some eggs and chicken. E A S Y and so foolproof even my mom could make it and she suuuuckkss at cooking (if you couldn’t tell). I like to add in extra mushrooms and chicken. Sometimes extra onions. Pretty much extra everything. It is that good. Mom used to make it all the time when I was little, and it was one of my favorite dishes then too. So far, I’ve made it 3 times since winter started. That’s how good it is.
So now, for lack of a better conclusion, stop reading this post and go make it. Go!
Oyako Donburi
Ingredients
- 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4-5 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 yellow onion thinly sliced, red onion can be used
- 1 green onion sliced on the diagonal
- 2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms soaked to soften, sliced
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Sauce Mixture
- 1 cup dashi (fish based stock) can substitute low sodium chicken broth
- 5 T soy sauce
- 2 1/2 T sugar can cut to 2 T
- 21/2 T mirin substitute sake to decrease sweetness
- cilantro garnish if desired
Instructions
- In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs and set aside.
- Heat saute' pan, add vegetable oil then onions and mushrooms, fry for 1-2 minutes until onions are soft. Add sauce mixture, heat through.
- Add chicken and lower flame to medium-low. Cook for 3-4 minutes, turning the chicken over. Cook until chicken loses pinkness
- Add eggs evenly over top of chicken. Cover and cook over low heat until eggs are just cooked should not be dry.
- Garnish with green onions or cilantro and nori strips
- Divide into portions and serve over rice. If desired, individual portions can be made. Quarter ingredients and use a small omelet pan to make.
