Oyako Udon Recipes

OYAKODON (CHICKEN AND EGG BOWL)

Steps:

• Gather all the ingredients.

OYAKO UDON

Steps:

• For the dashi: In a medium saucepan, soak the kombu and mushrooms in the filtered water for at least 2 hours and up to 10 hours at room temperature. After soaking, heat the saucepan with the water, soaked kombu and mushrooms over low heat until bubbles begin to form around the kombu and mushrooms, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the kombu and mushrooms before the water comes to a boil. Save the kombu and mushrooms for a future use.
• Bring the soaking water to a boil and then turn off the heat. Add the bonito flakes. Let stand for 2 minutes without stirring to steep the bonito flakes. To strain the dashi, pour the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve or a strainer lined with a thin kitchen towel, cheesecloth or paper towels. Do not press on the bonito flakes while straining as it will cloud the dashi. You should now have about 8 cups of dashi. Use the finished dashi immediately or cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
• For the tare: Combine the mirin and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely. Lower the heat, add the soy sauce and cook until the liquid starts to simmer, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
• For the soup: To cook the eggs, bring 1 quart (about 1 liter) of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add a pinch of kosher salt, then lower the eggs into the boiling water with a spider and cook over high heat for 7 minutes, stirring the eggs gently once. Remove the pan from the heat and drain. Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water and let them cool for 3 minutes. Peel the eggs and set aside.
• Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Arrange the chicken skin-side-down on the foil. Using a paring knife, lightly score the meat side every 1/4 inch. Brush with the sesame oil.
• Make ginger juice by grating the 3-inch whole piece of ginger on a Japanese grater or rasp grater. If using a rasp grater, transfer the grated ginger to a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl and press to drain as much juice as possible into the bowl. You should have about 1 tablespoon fresh ginger juice. Drizzle the ginger juice over the chicken and season lightly with the sea salt and pepper. Broil the chicken thighs, basting every 3 to 4 minutes with 1/4 cup of the tare, until golden brown and just cooked through, 12 to 16 minutes. Flip the chicken so it's skin-side up, baste again and broil until the skin is golden brown and crisp, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, let rest for 10 minutes, then slice each thigh into 3 thick slices.
• Meanwhile, combine 3/4 cup tare with 8 cups of dashi in a large saucepan. Bring the soup to a boil over medium heat and keep warm. Taste for seasoning and adjust with additional tare or dilute with filtered water as needed. Once the soup is boiling, carefully taste and stir in a splash of the sake if desired.
• Cook the udon noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to the package directions. Using tongs or a noodle scooper, remove the noodles from the cooking water, rinse in cool running water, drain and divide among 4 large soup bowls. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. Drain the spinach, pressing to remove as much water as possible, and divide among each serving of noodles.
• Ladle the boiling soup over the spinach and noodles in each bowl and top each with 3 slices of chicken. Slice the cooked eggs in half lengthwise. In each bowl, place 2 egg halves and a quarter of the scallions, then garnish with a quarter of the julienned ginger. Garnish each bowl with shichimi togarashi if using and a strip of lemon zest. Serve immediately.

OYAKODON (JAPANESE CHICKEN AND EGG RICE BOWL)

Steps:

• Make the sauce: In a small bowl, combine dashi, sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar; stir to dissolve sugar. Set aside.
• Heat a small (6- or 7-inch) nonstick (or well-seasoned carbon steel) slope-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the skin side of each piece of chicken until crisp, 3 to 4 minutes (meat will still be mostly raw). Transfer to a cutting board, skin-side down. Dice into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces.
• Cook chicken and egg in two batches: In a small bowl, beat two eggs until yolks and whites are broken, but still distinct. Return skillet to medium-high heat, wiping out any excess grease. Add half the sliced onions and half the sauce (about 1/3 cup), and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, until onions just begin soften. Add half the cut-up chicken; simmer for another 1 to 3 minutes, stirring, until chicken is white on the outside.
• Pour about half of the beaten eggs around the pan; let cook undisturbed for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the beaten eggs, and half the mitsuba or scallion. Adjust heat to low, and cook 20 seconds longer. Cover pan with a lid or foil and remove from heat. After a minute, uncover pan; eggs should be wobbly, but not raw (if they need more cooking, return the covered pan briefly to the heat).
• Carefully slide egg, chicken and sauce onto a bowl of cooked rice, trying to keep the mixture from flipping over. Repeat Steps 3 to 5 with remaining ingredients. Serve with shichimi togarashi, if desired.

OYAKODON (JAPANESE CHICKEN AND EGG RICE BOWL)

Steps:

• Rinse the rice in 3 to 4 changes of water until the rinse water is almost clear, and drain off the rinse water. Bring the rice and 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Place the chicken in a nonstick skillet with a lid, and cook and stir over medium heat until the chicken is no longer pink inside and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the onion, and cook and stir until the onion is soft, about 5 more minutes. Pour in the stock, and whisk in soy sauce, mirin, and brown sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let simmer until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes.
• Whisk the eggs in a bowl until well-beaten, and pour over the chicken and stock. Cover the skillet, reduce heat, and allow to steam for about 5 minutes, until the egg is cooked. Remove from heat.
• To serve, place 1 cup of cooked rice per bowl into 4 deep soup bowls, top each bowl with 1/4 of the chicken and egg mixture, and spoon about 1/2 cup of soup into each bowl.

YAKI UDON

Steps:

• Boil some water in a large saucepan. Add 250ml cold water and the udon noodles. (As they are so thick, adding cold water helps them to cook a little bit slower so the middle cooks through). If using frozen or fresh noodles, cook for 2 mins or until al dente; dried will take longer, about 5-6 mins. Drain and leave in the colander.
• Heat 1 tbsp of the oil, add the onion and cabbage and sauté for 5 mins until softened. Add the mushrooms and some spring onions, and sauté for 1 more min. Pour in the remaining sesame oil and the noodles. If using cold noodles, let them heat through before adding the ingredients for the sauce - otherwise tip in straight away and keep stir-frying until sticky and piping hot. Sprinkle with the remaining spring onions.

OYAKODON

Steps:

• Mix the dashi, mirin, sake, soy sauce and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Put the chicken thighs and onion in a small pan, and pour over half the dashi broth so the chicken is just covered.
• Slowly bring the mixture to the boil, skimming off any fat or scum that floats to the surface, and cook for 8-10 mins until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid has reduced slightly. Taste the broth for seasoning, and adjust if needed. Crack the eggs into a bowl, beat well, and drizzle over the chicken in the pan. Cook over a medium heat until the egg has thickened slightly (it's best served runny).
• Warm the remaining dashi broth in a separate pan. Serve the oyakodon over hot rice, with the extra dashi broth poured over. Season with mitsuba and togarashi or sansho pepper.