Singapore has Chicken Rice. Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam as well. Japan is no exception, but it's not Hainanese chicken rice origin. The Chicken Rice from Aomori, a snowy prefecture located at the north-end of Japan's main island Honshu, is a famous Ekiben (bento boxes sold at train stations). It's a dish with soy sauce flavoured rice topped beautifully with Iri-Tamago (Japanese scrambled egg), Tori-Soboro (simmered chicken mince) and soy braised chicken thigh. The bento box once disappeared, but made a comeback after a strong request from its fans. It's definitely a dish to be passed down to future generations.
Equipment
- 2 saucepans preferably non-stick
- 1 lid
- 1 rice cooker
- 2 small mixing bowls
- 2 pairs cooking chopsticks or a whisk
- 1 small strainer
- 1 Tablespoon
Ingredients
- 400 g Chicken thigh
- 450 g Raw rice
- Water (for cooking rice) Water + Chicken braising sauce = 540ml
-CHICKEN BRAISING SAUCE-
- 4 tbsp Soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Mirin
- 4 tbsp Water
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 5 slices Ginger
-TORI SOBORO- (simmered chicken mince)
- 300 g Minced Chicken
- 4½ tbsp Soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Sake
- 1 tbsp Mirin
- 2 tsp Vegetable oil
-IRI TAMAGO- (Japanese scrambled egg)
- 4 Eggs
- 4 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Mirin
- 2 pinches Salt
-OTEHERS-
- 4 Snow peas
- 2 cups Water
- 1 pinch Salt
- Some Shiba Zuke (purple pickled cucumber) or your favourite Japanese pickled vegetable
Instructions
- Measure the chicken thigh and the ingredients for the braising sauce.
- Cut the thigh in half and place the pieces in a saucepan along with the ingredients for the sauce.
- Braise over low to medium-low heat for 5 minutes each side with a lid on.
- Take off the lid and continue simmering until the liquid is reduced down to a third.
- Take out the chicken and strain the sauce to remove ethe ginger slices.
- Combine the sauce and the rice to make 540ml of rice cooking liquid. Add the rice and the sauce-water mixture into a rice cooker and press the start button..
- In the meantime, measure the ingredients for Tori Soboro (simmered chicken mince).
- Add all of them into a saucepan and stir well with chopsticks or a whisk to mix the mince and the seasonings together.
- Simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is reduced to a third.
- Turn off the heat and cool it down.
- Prepare the ingredients for Iri Tamago (Japanese scrambled egg).
- Beat the eggs well and add the seasonings. Beat further to mix them together.
- Add the oil and the egg mixture into a non-stick saucepan and start heating over low heat.
- Stir the egg mixture with chopsticks or a whisk using circular motions as you heat the egg and it coagulates.
- Rinse the snow peas and tear off each end.
- Add salt to a pot of boiling water and boil the snow pea for 2 minutes.
- Strain the snow peas and and cool them down in a bowl of cold water.
- Slice the chicken thigh into bite-size pieces and place all the other to toppings (Tori Soboro, Iri Tamago, snow peas, Shiba-zuke) to get ready for assembling the dish.
- Put a portion of rice in a serving bowl and cover half of the top surface with the chicken mince, and the other with the scrambled. Then top it with a few pieces of chicken thigh.
- Finally garnish it with a snow pea and Shiba-Zuke.
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