Donburi

Donburi (kanji: 丼; hiragana: どんぶり, literally "bowl", also frequently abbreviated as "don", thus less commonly spelled "domburi") is a Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish,meat and vegetable or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are served in oversized rice bowls also called donburi. Donburi are sometimes called sweetened or savory stews on rice.

The simmering sauce varies according to season, ingredient, region, and taste. A typical sauce might consist of dashi flavored with shoyu and mirin. Proportions vary, but there is normally three to four times as much dashi as shoyu and mirin. For oyakonda, Tsuji (1980) recommends dashi flavored with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. For gyudun, Tsuji recommends water flavored with dark soy sauce and mirin.

Recipe of Oyako Donburi

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked until soft, then sliced into strips
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 5 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute chicken strips and onion until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain off as much liquid as possible.
2. Stir in the chicken broth, and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and carrot, and let simmer for a few minutes before stirring in the sugar, soy sauce and salt. Simmer for 3 more minutes. Sprinkle in half of the green onions, stirring gently. Pour beaten eggs over the chicken mixture, and simmer until the eggs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve over Japanese sticky rice.

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock or water
• 4-6 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/2 lb cabbage, finely chopped
• 4-6 Tbsp chopped green onion
• 1/2-3/4 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)
• 12-18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• vegetable oil
• For toppings:
• ao-nori (dried seaweed powder)
• okonomiyaki sauce
• mayonnaise
• katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) *optional
• beni-shoga (pickled red ginger) *optional

Preparation:

Put flour in a large bowl. Pour dashi and mix to make batter. Rest the batter for about an hour in the refrigerator. To make one sheet of okonimiyaki, take out about 1/2 cup of the batter in another bowl. Mix about 1/4 lb of chopped cabbage, about 1 Tbsp of chopped green onion, and about 2 Tbsp of tempura flakes in the batter. Add an egg in the batter and stir. Heat an electric pan or skillet and oil lightly. Pour the batter in the pan and make a round shape. Cook for about 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, fry a couple slices of meat on the side and place the meat on top of the okonomiyaki. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi and beni-shoga if you would like.