Photo/Illutration Rice bowl dish with chicken and egg (Photo by Masahiro Goda)

Editor’s note: The theme of Gohan Lab is to help people make simple, tasty “gohan” (meals).

* * *
Starting this week, we will be introducing some popular staple dishes. First in line is “oyako-don,” literally “parent-child rice bowl dish.” The rice flavored with the sweet-salty simmering liquid plus the fluffy egg and plump chicken all contribute to the flavorful foremost staple dish.

Yet, some people seem to have difficulty “hitting the mark” with the flavor. The key to the simmering liquid, shown by Akiko Watanabe who oversaw the cooking aspect of the recipe, is a bit of sugar added to the soy sauce and sweet mirin sake that are used in equal amounts. The subtle sweetness is the secret behind the fine flavor.

If making the dashi stock seems too much trouble, you could use a bit of granulated stock mixed with water per instructions on the bag.

A frying pan 20 centimeters in diameter was used to cook the dish. If a larger pan is used, the egg mixture will spread out thinner and cook faster. Adjust the cooking time so the egg does not turn out hard.

The arranged version is garlic chives (“nira”) “bound with egg,” a cooking method called “tamago-toji.” This time, however, the seasonings are the same amount of soy sauce and sweet mirin sake and no sugar. By going light on the sweetness, the dish will turn out more like a side dish.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

(Supervised by Akiko Watanabe in the cooking aspect and Midori Kasai in the cookery science aspect)

* Ingredients (Serve two)

100 grams chicken thigh (without skin), 80 grams onion, 6 “mitsuba” stalks with leaves, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup dashi stock, 1 and 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 and 1/2 Tbsp sweet mirin sake, 1/2 tsp sugar, 300 to 360 grams cooked rice

About 510 kcal and 2.3 grams salt per portion

1. Cut onion in half lengthwise and slice against fiber into slices 6 to 7 mm wide. Cut mitsuba stalks into length of 3 cm. Cut chicken thigh into 1-cm-wide pieces and cut each at an angle into 2-cm-long pieces (PHOTO A). Break eggs in bowl and mix lightly with long chopsticks for cooking.

20220223-gohan2-L
PHOTO A: Cut the chicken into small pieces so they cook easily. Add them to the simmering liquid when it is still cold to make sure they are cooked thoroughly. (Photo by Masahiro Goda)

2. Add dashi stock, soy sauce, sweet mirin sake and sugar in frying pan and mix. Add onion and chicken. When pan comes to a boil on medium heat, reduce to low heat and turn sides of chicken pieces. Place lid and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until onion softens and chicken is cooked.

3. To the simmering liquid boiling lightly in pan, pour egg in swirling motion starting from the center. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes without mixing, and when egg is 80 percent cooked (PHOTO B), sprinkle mitsuba on top. Turn off stove, place lid and allow content to settle for 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Serve warm rice in bowl. Scoop the content (mentioned in 3) with turner, place on rice (PHOTO C) and pour some simmering liquid as well.

The Asahi Shimbun

***

Akiko Watanabe is a cooking expert specializing in Japanese cuisine.

Midori Kasai is a professor emerita at Ochanomizu University and former chairwoman of the Japan Society of Cookery Science.

ARRANGED VERSION

Garlic chives bound with egg

20220223-gohan5-L
Garlic chives bound with egg (Photo by Masahiro Goda)

Cut 50 grams or 1/2 bundle garlic chives (nira) into length of 3 cm. Break 2 eggs in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add 3/4 cup dashi stock, 2 tsp each of soy sauce and sweet mirin sake in a pot, mix and bring to a boil. Add garlic chives and simmer on low heat for 1 to 2 minutes. When simmering liquid is lightly boiling, add egg as if writing the hiragana character “no” starting from the center. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes and turn off heat when the egg is about 80 percent cooked. Place lid and let content settle for 1 to 2 minutes.

COOKERY SCIENCE

20220223-gohan-G-L
The Asahi Shimbun

While the egg is in a liquid state when raw, it turns solid when heated. It solidifies as it is even when mixed with other ingredients such as dashi stock, vegetables or meat and heated. When the egg is thinned with dashi stock that is 3 to 4 times its amount and cooked with various ingredients, you get “chawanmushi,” steamed egg custard. The Hamburger steak, where egg is added to the ground meat as a joining agent, is a dish that makes good use of the egg’s characteristic.

* * *

From The Asahi Shimbun’s Gohan Lab column

Related News