Home Cooking: Rice Cooker Oyokodon

One of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram is Easy Peasy Jordan (#easypeasyjordan). Jordan is a young boy, maybe around 8 or 9 years old, who loves to cook and makes Japanese-style dishes. He makes many things, but I love his rice cooker series where traditional Japanese recipes are made in a rice cooker. All the ingredients go together into the rice cooker together and cook along with the rice.

When he made oyakodon (親子丼) in the rice cooker the other day there was no question that I had to try this as soon as possible because oyakodon has been one of our family’s favorite dishes for as long as I can remember. A donburi (丼) is a traditional “rice bowl meal” with anything from seafood to meat to vegetables served on top of a bowl of rice. Oyako (親子) means parent-child (oya親)-ko子) because the topping is chicken and egg!

There are two specifically Japanese ingredients required to make oyakodon: hondashi and mirin. Hondashi is bonito fish soup stock and is the most important flavor in Japanese cooking. It’s not particularly fishy tasting (IMO), but without it things just don’t taste Japanese. Whenever I smell it anywhere I am instantly transported back to Japan. Mirin is a low-alcohol sweet cooking sake. Both can sometimes be found a well-stocked supermarket Asian section or can be purchased on Amazon. They will both last in the pantry for a long time.

I love having a new, easier way to make this dish, one that doesn’t heat up the kitchen and yet provides the same tasty flavors as one that’s made in the traditional way on the stove. By the way, if you don’t have a rice cooker, it’s an incredibly versatile appliance, and not just for rice, although you will get perfectly cooked rice (any type) and grains every time you use it! I would be lost without mine.

RICE COOKER OYAKODON

• 2 cups short-grain rice washed and covered with the water required by your rice cooker
• 1/4 cup additional water
• 1/2 pound chicken thighs, skinned and cut into 2″ pieces
• 1/2 thinly sliced onion
• 1 TBSP hondashi
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2.5 TBSP mirin
• 3.5 TBSP soy sauce
• 3 large eggs
• shredded nori (optional)
• beni shoga (red pickled ginger – optional)
• furikake (optional)

Wash and add the rice to the rice cooker bowl; cover with the necessary water and then add the additional 1/4 cup. Add the hondashi, mirin, sugar, and soy sauce to the water and gently stir them together with the rice. Top with the sliced onion, then the chicken pieces. Close the rice cooker and use the white rice setting to cook.

When the rice is almost done, beat the 3 eggs together well. When the rice cooker finishes, open the cooker and pour the eggs over the top, then immediately close the lid and let set undisturbed for 4-5 minutes, until the egg is lightly set.

Do not mix everything together before serving! Remove each serving with a large spoon and place into a bowl. Top with shredded nori, beni shoga, or a little furikake if desired before eating. Makes 4 servings.