“Oyako-don” is a classic Japanese dish which literally translates to “mother-and-child rice bowl” - because you make it with chicken and egg. Absolute genius name but also kind of sad if you think too much about it.
Since eggs apparently don’t freeze too well, this one is a semi meal-prep where I freeze the raw chicken and add the eggs on the day I cook it.
Ingredients
This makes 6 - 8 servings (depending on how much chicken you count as a serving).
The veg
- 4 onions
Optionally I have had some leftover Chinese cabbage (or hakusai) which I’ve incorporated in for some extra veg as well.
The protein
- 1.1kg ish of chicken thighs (もも肉)
- 1 egg per serving
So this is a lot of meat, but it’s for at least 6 servings which you will meal-prep.
If you buy straight up chicken thigh meat, it’s kind of a hassle because you have to cut it into bite-sized pieces. If your supermarket stocks chicken meant for karaage (唐揚げ用) then I would recommend buying that since that is already conveniently chopped up for you.
Misc
- 115g mentsuyu (めんつゆ)
- 4tspn sugar
- 140g water
- 1 tpsn Gochujang paste (very optional)
You can buy mentsuyu at any supermarket in Japan, it’s a very common cooking ingredient. You can also make it yourself with a combination of mirin and soy sauce, but I would rather just pour it from a bottle instead of having to think about the ratios.
The gochujang paste is definitely not part of the regular oyako-don recipe, but I found I got quite bored of oyako-don after a while so the little bit of spice keeps things interesting. If you look up the top, it’s the red container in the middle of the photo.
Instructions
The original recipe comes from Just One Cookbook, plus this Japanese site when I was trying to figure out how to make this meal preppable.
If you’re doing the Chinese cabbage (note this part of the recipe is from me asking ChatGPT what to do with my spare hakusai):
- Cut the white stem into thin strips, and leafy bits into larger pieces
- Heat a little oil in the pan, and saute the white stem for 2 - 3 minutes
- Add the leafy bits and saute for 30 - 60 seconds until wilted
- Set it aside for later
Onto the regular recipe:
- Chop up the chicken into bite-sized pieces and cut the onion into slices. Divide these into however many containers you want to meal prep for. I am cooking for two people, so I’ll divide the 6 servings into 3 containers.
- Mix the sugar, water and mentsuyu, and then pour it out equally into each of the containers.
- Take one of the containers - this will be what you’re cooking for tonight. Freeze the other ones for another day.
Note you can also just freeze the chicken with the sauce if you prefer to cook the onions fresh.
You might be wondering whether this really counts as meal prep if we’re not actually cooking it all in one go, but I find it surprisingly helpful to have spare meat in the freezer. It saves me having to make a grocery store trip if I have the vegetables/eggs lying around.
- Dump the contents of the container into a large pan and put on medium heat with a lid to keep the water from evaporating. If you want to add in the gojuchang paste, now is the time.
- I don’t really have a specific time to cook it, kind of vibe it until it seems cooked (it’s fine if you overcook it, really, since its in liquid). Also make sure the liquid doesnt evaporate fully or you will be having a nice burnt oyako-don.
- Add back in the Chinese cabbage if you have it.
- Final step is to whisk the eggs, and then pour it on top and wait for it to be semi-cooked. There is an art to this where you want it to be sort of cooked but also slightly liquidy when you serve it (Japanese eggs are quite safe to eat raw). But I don’t think I’ve quite got it down.
And that’s it!
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