HEY everyone, sorry it’s been a while since the last post. I’ve been busy testing avocado chocolate mousse recipes and making houmous, neither of which have the Japan factor…YET. Anyway, here’s another traditional Japanese recipe for you to try.

‘Oyako-don’ literally means parent and child rice bowl. As in the chicken is the mum and the egg is the baby. Sorry, I don’t like the name either. Let’s call it chicken and egg on rice!  YUM.

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

2 portions of white rice (Japanese rice is best but any rice of any colour will work too)
2 chicken breasts or thighs (free-range is best!)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 onion
2 tbsp frozen peas

COOKING SAUCE

200ml dashi
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar

(If you don’t have dashi or mirin, you can replace them with 150ml water, an extra tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt – this replaces the liquid, the sweetness of the mirin and the saltiness of the dashi.)

METHOD
1. Put your rice in a saucepan or rice cooker and cook according to instructions. 5 mins before it is ready you can prepare the chicken and egg topping.
2. Cut the chicken into little cubes. Thinly the slice onion and defrost the peas.
3. Bring the dashi, mirin, soy sauce and sugar to boil in pan. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved.
4. The traditional way is to make 1 serving at a time in a little pan. You can do it this way, or you can do it all in one go and divide the portions afterwards.
5. Lightly beat the eggs and set aside.
6. Fry the chicken, onions and sauce over medium to high heat. Once they are cooked add the peas.
7. Pour over the eggs. When outer edges of egg begin to set, stir gently with chopsticks or a fork. Switch off the heat and place a lid on the pan for 30 secs. The egg topping should still be a little runny on top.
8. Put your cooked rice in a big bowl and plop the chicken-egg-onion-pea mix onto each portion.