The smell of this dish bring back some sweet memory of my childhood.
I grew up in the time that Japanese culture was super cool and the most trendy in Asia. When one of the biggest Japanese Department Store/ supermarket YAOHAN opened their first ever store in Hong Kong, which happened to be just in the doorstep of my town, became one of the biggest joy for us Shatin people ( 沙田友)!
The department store consisted of a hugh retail store that sold everything from Japanese fashion to super cute Sanrio stationary ( you know those Hello Kitty, Melody and Little twins star, and so many years later they are still going strong 💪! )
Also with an amazing food court that had Sushi stall, Japanese fried food, sweet treat , pancake, ramen, Takoyaki ( octopus balls) , Imagawayaki ( Red bean cake ) oh this was such a sensation, the cake were made right in in front your eyes in some automated machine with cast iron mould, from the batter dropped into the iron, cooking, adding aduki red bean paste, turned and cooked again, all in front of your eyes, and now, imagine the smell of that sweetness and slighted brown batter flavour, HEAVEN!!!
I can definitely say part of my taste journey built from that time! Mom and dad would bring us there to look around, try new food,ĺl
usually deciding by the look of the food because Japanese eateries always have some tempting food model on the counter, so even you have no idea what they are, you can just judge by the look!
Oh dear, I can write an essay just by this!
And I haven't even start talking about their supermarket yet!
And whenever I think about Japanese food, the smell of the Yaohan Food Court just hanging around in my head, the sweet savoury aroma that combine with Mirin, Soy, Kombu and Bonito, mingle, and stay in my mind forever.
This dish, I want to introduce to you, because it is super tasty, simple to make, high protein, no oil, most importantly, children and adults all love to eat.
You only need very few ingredients and you can use either chicken breast of thigh meat, although Thigh meat give deeper flavour, use chicken breast if you prefer white meat and lower fat content.
Ingredients
200g chicken thighs /breasts
1 onion
150ml dashi stock
1 tbsp Japanese Soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
pinch of sugar
2 eggs
500g cooked Japanese rice
1 spring onion
Some nori seaweed for garnish
How To Prepare
1) Make your Dashi stock, either with instant Dashi powder, or make our own using Bonito and Kombu seaweed.
2) Mix the Soy sauce, Mirin, sugar and dashi stock together, mix well.
3) crack the eggs into a bowl, beat well.
4) Use a shallow saucepan, normally this is cooked per 1 person portion, and use the pan that is similar to the size of your bowl for best visual result, I was cooking for family so sometimes I do short cut at home, I tripled the quantity of ingredients and make them all in one go, Modern mom need some time for herself too! 😄
5) Put a single layer of onion on the bottom, then place the chicken pieces on top, pour in the dashi mix just cover the meat.
6) Bring the sauce to boil first on high heat, once it started to boil, cover the lid and lower down to medium heat to simmer
7) if you are cooking for 1 portion, should take 4-5 minutes to cook the chicken, once the chicken are cooked, remove the lid and turn up the heat to bring the mixture to a boil. Drizzle the egg over the chicken in a number 8 pattern to ensure it’s evenly distributed.
8) Try not to let the egg cook too much, abo
ut 1-2 minutes, a slightly runny texture is the preferred way to serve oyakodon.
When the eggs are done, turn off the heat and pour the egg and chicken over a bowl of freshly boiled white rice. Garnish with some finely sliced spring onions or sliced Nori seaweed before serving, enjoy.
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