Melting Pot of Hobbies Can Be Delicious

Many people ask me what it is that I’m particularly good at or what skills do I have that stand out from most.  I always wonder because I’m not what you would call your typical Information Science student. Yes I am deeply into video games and am a total nerd when people talk about technology. I marvel at the stars, planets and all things astronomy and am super geeky when you mention programming and mobile applications. So one may ask, what makes me any different? Well, on top of all those geeky and nerdy things, I also love playing basketball, football and doing manly outdoor activities such as camping, fishing and running. I like watching March Madness (Go Badgers!) and football (NFL) and I absolutely love Fantasy Football. I also enjoy watching boxing, mma and any kind of contact sport which involves pummeling the guy across from you. Not so much your typical nerd now am I? Well, you’re in for a surprise because it only starts there. To add to this list of hobbies I am also quite the handy man when it comes to a hammer and a nail; like building a bed frame for the wife so she can have her king bed or fixing the car so that we can save some money.

With so many hobbies, one must need a ton of energy to be able to do all these things right? Luckily in between partaking in all these activities, I also LOVE TO EAT. But I’m not talking about going out to your local fast food chain and ordering a super-sized Big Mac meal or chowing down on an unlimited buffet. What I’m talking about is a hearty and home cooked meal and this brings us to another hobby of mine that I enjoy doing when I’m not being a handy wood-working, car fixing, nerdy video gaming, pumped up cage fighting, sports watching, computer programming geek; I absolutely love to COOK.

I enjoy all kinds of foods and try to learn how to make many different cultural foods to help broaden my taste buds into being more accepting of all things consumable. So this brings us to what my topic for today will be; cooking a simple dish at home that tastes like a million bucks: Simple Home-made Oyakodon. Oyakodon is a tasty rice bowl eaten during lunch or dinner and consist mainly of green onions, onions, chicken and eggs. It is a staple in Japan and today I will teach you how to make it with just a few ingredients.

Many of these ingredients I already had in my pantry and was something I had been craving for awhile since my last stop at a Japanese restaurant. I figured then, why not make it myself?

Dish: Oyakodon

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Dashi broth (using dashi powder)
• 2 Tablespoons of Mirin
• 1/8 and up to 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 4 chicken thighs cut into small pieces
• 1 medium onion cut into halves and sliced
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 medium green onions, diced
• 3 large eggs

Quick Note:Dashi or sometimes called Hon Dashi is basically a fish stock made from bonito fish and can be found at your local oriental food market. Mirin is a sweet Japanese rice wine used in a lot of Japanese cuisine and has a very sweet taste to it. Mirin can also be found at your local oriental food market but can commonly be found at your local grocery market also; I got mine from Pick n’ Save.

Other Ingredients:

Cooking Instructions:

Preparing and Cooking Rice:

As stated, Oyakodon is a rice dish therefore you will need rice. For traditional Oyakodon, you would usually use short grain rice but long grain rice will also do. Whichever rice you decide to choose, will be a matter of preference. But you must rinse the rice before cooking it. To do so, poor water to just cover uncooked rice, rinse and drain then repeat until the rinse water runs almost clear. Drain the rinse water.

After the rice is prepped, you must cook the rice. Now, there are two ways in which to cook rice. The first and easy way is to buy a rice cooker. I know it sounds obvious but many people eat rice daily (including me) and find that it’s very efficient to just buy one. If you don’t have one, don’t worry. The second way is to use about 2 cups of uncooked rice and rinse with method above. Then bring 4 cups of water and the rice to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and the water has absorbed, taking about 20 to 25 minutes.

Quick Note:The amount of water used may vary depending on the brand and what type of grain(long or short). If you are new to cooking rice, please follow instructions on the package to make sure you don’t mess up the rice!

Cooking the Other Ingredients:

First things first, in a saucepan, poor in 2 cups water and dashi powder (about 1 Tablespoon per cup of water) and stir until disolved. Wait for it to begin boiling under medium high heat and then add the chicken and let it cook for about 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is cooked through, add the sliced onions and cook for another 5 minutes until soften. Then add the mirin, sugar and soy sauce and stir until sugar has disolved. Let it boil until slightly reduced; roughly 10 minutes.

While you’re waiting for the broth to reduce, whisk the eggs until well beaten. Once the broth has reduced, pour eggs over and then cover and let simmer for 5 mins.

As the eggs are cooking, place about 1 cup of cooked rice into bowls (feel free to eat more but I’d advise to portion as rice does contain a lot of starch! Also, don’t mind my image of the rice, I was using day old rice for my Oyakodon dish that’s why my rice doesn’t look so fluffy).

After the egg has cooked, remove from stove and immediately take about 1/4 of the chicken and egg mixture and spoon on top of rice. Also, take some of the broth and spoon it into your dish as the rice does a magnificent job of soaking up the broth. Last but not least, top with chopped green onions for a nice taste and VOILA! Simple and easy home cooked Oyakodon!

TASTY TIPS: One thing I like to do to contrast the sweet taste of the Oyakodon is squeezing some Sriracha sauce on top and then mixing it. It adds a subtle spicy flavor which accents the sweetness very well and makes it so much more flavorful and tasty! Also, feel free to toss in other vegetables after the dish is cooked such as sliced carrots, mushrooms, snap peas and etc. to give your dish a colorful look with a crispy texture and a ton of flavor!