Japanese style crispy chicken, dashi and egg omelette over rice (oyakodon)

Flavoursome and easy to prepare, oyakodon is a satisfying, 30 minute meal that requires little effort. If crispy skin isn’t your thing, simply shred the cooked chicken, skip the frying step and proceed with the recipe as normal.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 60 ml (¼ cup) mirin
• 2 tbsp sake (optional)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp finely shredded ginger
• 2 tsp instant dashi powder (see note)
• 600 g chicken thigh fillets, skin on
• 1 brown onion, halved, cut into 1 cm-thick slices
• 6 eggs, gently mixed with chopsticks
• 5 spring onions, finely sliced, plus extra, to serve
• 2 tbsp sliced shiso leaves (see note), plus extra to serve
• salt and white pepper
• 100 g Asian mushrooms such as enoki and baby oyster, separated
• steamed rice, to serve

Instructions

Combine mirin, sake, soy sauce, ginger, dashi powder and 400 ml water in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil and season to taste. Add the chicken and onion, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and rest on paper towel, skin-side down, for 5 minutes. Using a sharp knife, slice off the top third of each chicken thigh, roughly shred the meat and return to the saucepan.

Pat the chicken thigh skin dry with fresh paper towel and place skin-side down in a frying pan. Place the frying pan over medium heat and cook for 5–7 minutes until the skin is golden and crisp. Remove from the heat and, using a sharp knife, cut into slices.

Meanwhile, transfer the contents of the saucepan to a wide frying pan and bring to a simmer. Combine the eggs, spring onions and shiso leaf and season to taste. Slowly pour the eggs into the frying pan and gently mix through with chopsticks. Scatter over the mushrooms, cover and simmer for 3–4 minutes until the eggs are just set.

To serve, fill a bowl with steamed rice and top with egg omelette. Arrange slices of crispy skin chicken on top of the egg and scatter with extra shiso leaves and spring onion. Lastly pour some of the juice from the frying pan around the rice. Serve immediately.

Note
• Instant dashi powder and shiso leaves, also known and perilla, are available from Japanese food stores and select Asian grocers.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.