you can make oishii jap food too!

many people are familiar with the dish called "katsudon" in the jap restaurants, which usually comprises of a piece of fried panko-coated chicken or pork cutlet, covered by sweet japanese sauce and a thin layer of egg and caramelised onions. however, not many have heard of or tried its sister dish called "oyakodon"(Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl), which is a much healthier version of "katsudon" since the chicken pieces are simmered in the sweet sauce and not deep-fried.

in this house of the happy bears, "oyakodon" is one hot favourite because it is healthy, delicious and very easy to prepare. here's the winning recipe for those of you who are adventurous enough to try out your own jap cuisine at home: Ingredients to serve 4 people:
Jap sweet sauce: 2 cups of dashi soup (Japanese bonito stock-you can make from instant bonito stock powder), 7 TB soy sauce (approx quantity, i usually adjust according to taste and add slightly less if the stock is sweet enough), 5 TB mirin (sweet sakae), 5 TB sugar
Rice: 4 cups of cooked Jap rice
Others: 4 medium chicken thigh fillet (sliced into chunks) or 2 large chicken breasts (you can half the quantity of meat if you are not a self-proclaimed carnivore!), 4 eggs (beaten), thinly sliced onions and shredded carrot (about 1 small carrot) for extra taste and colour

Steps:
1) Prepare Jap sweet sauce:
-Put dashi soup in pan on medium heat
-Add soy sauce, mirin and sugar in pan
-Stir and mix well

2) Prepare "gu" or fillings for rice bowl:
-Put chicken chunks into the sweet sauce in pan and simmer on low heat for a few minutes
-Add in onions and carrots and simmer futher till chicken is no longer pink
-Add in beaten eggs when the dashi stock is boiling
-Turn heat down to low and put on lid till eggs have settled and cooked (you have to make your own judgement here!)

3) Presentation:
-Place the cooked fillings over the rice prepared earlier
-Sprinkle on some shredded seaweed to add some sparks to the taste and appearance of your food!

granny bear's cooking tips:
- use chicken thigh instead of chicken breast if you want a more tender and juicy taste to your meat because chicken breast tends to dry out very fast if heat is not controlled properly
- divide the "gu" ingredients into 4 sets and prepare each rice bowl individually (it may be more time consuming but it definitely gives more satisfactory results!)

another popular myth that most people believe in is that agedashi tofu is tedious to prepare and that you can only get good agedashi tofu in the restaurants. but the truth is, agedashi tofu is a very simple dish that most Jap households cook on a regular basis as a side dish or appetiser! here's my trial-and-hit recipe of agedashi tofu at home:

Ingredients:
1 box of silken tofu (250g or more if you like) cut into bite size blocks (see picture above), cornflour or potato flour for coating tofu before frying, Jap agedashi tofu stock (i am not sure of the quantity here because i made up my own sauce-Jap dashi soup, soy sauce, mirin, shredded ginger and squeeze a bit of juice in, sugar, cornflour water)

Steps:
1) Drain silken tofu of any water and wrap it with kitchen towel and place a bowl over to help absorb the moisture for at least 1 hour (this is to prevent the oil from splattering onto you later when you deep fry it)
2) Prepare the Jap sauce in a similar manner to that for the "oyakodon" but add ginger to it. When the sauce boils, add in cornflour water and stir quickly to thicken the sauce slightly
3) Cut tofu into blocks of your desired size and coat it with cornflour
4) Deep fry in hot oil till surface of tofu turns light golden brown (be careful not to overfry!)
5) Sprinkle some shredded ginger/ white radish/ chopped spring onion for presentation if you like

Ah ha! there you have it! simple home-cooked Jap meal! i hope that you will be successful in preparing it!

much love
granny bear