Oyakodon

Sorry for so much Japanese food, but really it's the only exciting thing I make. Otherwise it's spaghetti and food of that ilk. I'm trying to make sure I can make Japanese food so that my kids will have a taste of 'home' when we move to the US one day. Plus, Edamame tends to eat favor Japanese food over American.

Here goes!

Oyakodon literally is Mother/child rice bowl. It is egg and chicken. I wonder if that wouldn't be kosher.

Step 1: cook some short grain rice up, I prefer brown rice. I plead with you not to use Uncle Ben's

Step 2: Make magical Japanese sauce.
1 1/2 cups soup stock(preferably kelp or mushroom...not american style please)
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp. mirin(sweet japanese cooking wine)

Then heat up and disolve the sugar

Step 3: Add an onion that has been cut into 1/4 vertical strips. Let that cook until the onions are clear and tender


Step 4: Add 3/4 ~ 1 lb. of deboned chicken thigh cut into bite sized pieces and let cook covered. Check after a few minutes and flip the chicken pieces over and cook a tad bit longer.


Step 5: Lightly beat 4~6 eggs. Don't over do it, you need to still be able to distinguish the yolk for the white. Pour 3/4 of the eggs over the onions and chicken and cover for a bit. When it is almost cooked add the last little bit and cook just a bit more. Turn off the heat just before it is completely cooked. You serve it still slightly runny and let the hot rice cook it the rest of the way. Same egg caution as before, know where your eggs are from.


Step 6: Eat up!





We had it with miso soup and a salad, I need to tweak the dressing recipe before I share it. The kids had seen the Cooking with Dog video about Omu-rice before hand and begged for ketchup on it. They loved it, but that's because we all know that ketchup has chemicals in it that are highly addictive to children under 10. I have no idea what it is, but Ed will put ketchup on anything almost.

Sukiyaki

Yet another installment of crazy Japanese food hour. Sukiyaki is one of my favorite dishes, but tends to be considered fancier(at least on the restaurant scale). It's also a bit dangerous with kids around, open flame at the table and 20 month olds don't typically mix. Nonetheless I had to fulfill this craving, and found out how to make it. First a big thanks to Cooking with Dog(poor grammar not the crazy side of asian cuisine).

For the sukiyaki sauce you will need
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin or saké
1 tablespoon vegetable or beef stock powder(not bullion...the flavor is way too different)

You bring it to a boil and turn the heat down

then add


thinly slice beef(1/2 to 1 lbs.)
wide chopped napa cabbage
diagonally cut leek
a few cross sections of a yellow onion
seared tofu cut into large cubes(just plain firm if you can't find seared tofu)
diagonally sliced carrot(about 1/4 inch)
Komatsuna(Japanese mustard spinach) wide chopped...I couldn't fit it in the pan.
Shiitake mushrooms(6-12, stems off, cut a pretty star in the top if you want to)
Maitake mushrooms(1 bunch, bottom cut off, break it up into small clumps...I might add more next time)




This usually calls for Konjak noodles, but I put udon noodles in later.

let it boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. I ended up adding a few cups of water so that the broth wouldn't be too thick.




Then you can eat it, and if you KNOW where the eggs are from, dip it in a raw beaten egg. It seems freaky, but tastes soooooo good. Only do this if you are absolutely sure of where the eggs are from, like your hippie, chicken raising neighbor.

We dig noodles, so once everything was cooked, we added some precooked udon noodles, and then ate up.




Dish it out, and enjoy. This way you don't burn your small child at a fancy restaurant, and still get to enjoy this great flavor. I used a normal deep sauce pan. It does need to be deep though.

Good luck, and feel free to ask questions.