My little brother, who is 6 feet 8 inches tall in his sock feet, lived in Tokyo for several years and has given me a door into a world that I might have known nothing about. He lived in a teensy tiny apartment and described his daily life and the richness, if not in space, in the food, the children, the sights, and the language around him.
Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Abigail and her delightful blog Mamatouille. She’s an American living and cooking in Japan with her husband and her two Yummies, Matthew and Joel. She graciously agreed to make a Japanese dish for us with Matthew, who is nearly 3 years old and who looks to be super-duper good spinach washer and mini-chef. (And, domo arigato, Matthew and Abigail!):
“Oyako” in Japanese means “parent-child”, which is completely appropriate for this traditional Japanese home-cooked dish with chicken and eggs. (Which came first?) “Donburi” just means bowl and is used for any hot meal that’s served over rice in a bowl. This recipe came to me on a convoluted route: I got the More With Less cookbook for my American wedding (we had one in the US and one in the UK for all of our peeps to be able to join in), the recipe in the American cookbook is from Obihiro, Japan (a city on Hokkaido-the big island north of the main island), and I brought my precious cookbook with me when we moved here to Japan in 2001. I have served this dish to my former Japanese sensei (and one of my of my adopted Japanese mothers), and she said it was “perfect”. My little yummy bean, Matthew [pictured above helping Mama wash some dirt off either himself or the spinach], thinks so, too, and this is the only way I can get him to consume spinach (and it’s not even hidden).
And if you think my Japanese kitchen is small, you ain’t seen nuthin’! This is gihugic compared to some of my friends’ kitchens here, and at least mine has a door and isn’t in the living room (seriously).
OK, everybody wash hands and let’s get down to this cookin’ business.
You’ll need:
*1/2 lb raw chicken, skinless and cut into bite sized pieces
*5 eggs (yes, really)
*enough flour for dusting the chicken
*1 c. water
*3 dried mushrooms, diced finely
*1/4 c. sugar
*1/3 c. soy sauce (dark)
*2 scallions, cut diagonally, or 1 sliced onion
*2 c. chopped fresh spinach
*chopped parsley for garnishing
*cooked rice for 4 people (recipe here)
Together/Oyako: Measure the ingredients and have them sitting and ready. Wash the chopped spinach and have that draining in a colander.
Big Person/Oya: Combine the mushrooms and water in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes, then leave to sit in the water for a few minutes while you get on with the rest of the steps.
Mini-chef/Ko: Ask your mama or daddy to help you beat the 5 eggs in a bowl. Matthew’s darn good at that-he gets a lot of practice round here.
Together/Oyako: Dust the chicken with flour and dip in the beaten egg (reserving the extra eggs).
Big Person/Oya: Fry the chicken in a big skillet in oil till brown. Add the mushrooms with liquid, sugar, and soy sauce to the chicken in the pan and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the chopped onion or scallions and simmer 10 more minutes. Add the spinach and while it’s still bright green, add those reserved beaten eggs to the skillet and cover it. Cook only until it’s set (nobody’s worried about salmonella over here, and raw eggs are consumed at a high rate-if you’re stateside and concerned about that, cook it until you feel it’s ready), add some rice to the individual bowls, and ladle some oyako donburi into each bowl.
Mini-Chef/Ko: Scatter some chopped parsley over each serving to garnish. Then enjoy with your Oya and don’t forget to mention how “nummy” it is! Or if you want to sound Japanese, say “OISHII!”
