How to Make 25-Minute Oyakodon That Perfectly Balances Sweet, Savory, And Silky Textures

I've tried many oyakodon recipes but this is the ultimate answer. That's the message I received from my reader after sharing this recipe. In just 25 minutes I'll show you how to transform basic ingredients into this Japanese comfort classic. For a printable version of this recipe visit my website, just google oyakodon space statue to find me. Let's start with our chicken thighs. I already cut 300 grams of skin-on boneless chicken thigh into bite-sized pieces and patted them dry with some paper towels. You want to remove that excess moisture so we can get a beautiful golden crust. Now I'm sprinkling a bit of flour and a generous pinch of salt. We're not doing a heavy breading here, just a light dusting, about one tablespoon. This thin coating is going to promote the maillard reaction and also prevents the chicken from releasing too much liquid into our sauce later. Now grab a large frying pan and set it over medium heat. Add just enough cooking oil to coat the bottom. You'll know it's ready when it simmers but doesn't smoke. That's a sweet spot. Place your chicken pieces in a single layer, skin side down. Now let them cook undisturbed for about two to three minutes until they develop that beautiful golden crust we're after. By using medium heat we're allowing the interior to warm up gradually while the exterior gets that perfect colour. If your heat is too high you end up with tough dry meat. Once you've got the gorgeous golden crust, flip each piece and give the other side a quick sear. Don't worry if they're not fully cooked through at this point, they'll finish cooking later in our sauce. Transfer them to a plate for now. Now wipe out the oil from the pan so we can reuse it. Pour in 100 millilitres of dashi stock, three tablespoons of mirin, one tablespoon of light brown sugar and one teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder. This combination is going to create an amazing broth that forms the backbone of our dish. Next I'm adding half an onion which I've cut into thin wedges and let them simmer until they become translucent and sweet. When you slow cook onions their cell walls break down releasing natural sweetness and creating this melt-in-your-mouth texture that pairs perfectly with our eggs. Speaking of dashi you've got options here. If you're feeling fancy go ahead and use homemade dashi stock. For convenience with clean flavour try those teabag style dashi packets. Looking for the easiest route? Dashi granules mixed with water work great. Whatever you choose it's going to be delicious. Once the onions have softened nicely bring the chicken pieces back into the simmering broth and add two tablespoons of soy sauce. While the chicken finishes cooking let's prepare three eggs. I'm separating the whites and yolks into different bowls. Why go through this extra step you might ask? Egg whites and yolks coagulate at different temperatures. By adding them separately we get the perfect texture for both components plus a more beautiful presentation with that vibrant yellow layer on top. Using a circular motion pour those egg whites around the pan then cover and reduce the heat to medium low. Let them steam for about two to three minutes just until they're barely set and turning opaque. Then remove the lid, reduce the heat to the absolute lowest setting and gently whisk those gorgeous golden yolks just until combined. Pour the yolks over the whites, cover again and let them steam for another one minute before turning off the heat completely. Gudoyakudon should have slightly runny eggs but feel free to cook them to your preferred doneness. This is your dinner after all. In my previous video I used a special in-visual pan used in Donburi restaurants. This time I'm using a regular pan so I want to show you how to plate up beautifully. So I'm just using a spatula to break it into pieces that will fit snugly in my 7 bowls. The goal here is to avoid breaking the egg too much. For this pan four pieces is good but if you used a bigger pan you might need to cut it smaller. It depends on the size of your bowls. Divide your rice into bowls and top with equal portions of our chicken and egg mixture. This is a tricky part. We're going to carefully slide each piece on top of the rice. I use two pieces per bowl. You can fill in the gaps with loose onions. Be gentle here. Use a spatula or a large serving spoon to transfer everything without breaking the beautiful egg layer we've created. There will be some sauce left over in the pan so just drizzle that over the top so that it can seep into the rice for extra flavour. For the finishing touch garnish with some mitsuba, that's Japanese wild parsley and a sprinkle of shredded nori and shichimi togarashi. Not only do these add a fresh contrasting flavour but they also make our dish look absolutely gorgeous. And there you have it, an ultimate oyakodon. Give it a try and I hope you'll be making this again and again. Okay let's go over the ingredients one more time and if you're ready to cook grab the written instructions by clicking the full recipe box with a picture that's about to pop up on your screen. Here we go the link to the full recipe is on the screen for you now and if you want to watch more similar videos don't miss my lunch playlist popping up on your screen as well. Thanks so much for watching and I hope to see you in the next one. Bye!