The chicken and the egg: Oyako don

This is a popular Japanese street food and a great comfort food. “Don” is a short version of donburi in Japanese, which is a rice bowl dish that comes with different toppings. The rest of the name is darkly humorous, as it means “mother and child” – referring to the two core ingredients: chicken and egg.

Serves 2
For the Japanese rice
130g Japanese rice
230ml water

For the chicken
250g of chicken thighs
½ medium onion
4 eggs, beaten
4 stalks coriander, leaves
picked

2 bowls of cooked rice
50ml mirin
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sake (optional)
60ml dashi (Japanese stock, below)

For the kombu dashi
1 piece of kombu (dried kelp) – about 240×50mm
500ml water

1 First, prepare the rice. Wash the rice well in a sieve for no less than 2 minutes, but ideally for 4 minutes, constantly turning it over until the water turns clear. Drain the rice and transfer it to a pan, then cover it with the cup of water. Let it stand for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

2 Then, make the dashi. To make the stock, wipe the kombu with a clean cloth (kombu shouldn’t be washed). In a deep pot, soak the kombu in the water for about 30 minutes.

3 Heat it up slowly. When the water boils, take out the kombu and remove the stock from the heat. Set aside 60ml to use for the chicken, and freeze the remainder for future use.

4 Now, cook the rice. Cover the rice pan it soaked in, keeping the rice in the same water and bring the rice to the boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 8-9 minutes (or 4 minutes in a pressure cooker). Turn the heat off and then let it stand to cool for a further 10-15 minutes. You can freeze any leftover rice.

5 Slice the chicken into 2cm cubes and the onion thinly ( 5mm slices). Using a 18-20cm pot, pour in the sake, mirin, reserved dashi and soy sauce and bring to the boil. Add the onion and chicken and cook for another 3-4 minutes over a medium heat. Lightly beat the eggs and then pour ¬ of the mixture slowly in a circular motion over the top of the chicken as it cooks.

6 Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute more before pouring in the rest of the eggs. Cook until the eggs are set to your taste, I prefer them to be slightly runny and not over-cooked. Put the rice in a bowl and put the cooked chicken on top.
Yuki Gomi, yukiskitchen.com