Donburi (丼, lit. "bowl", also frequently abbreviated as "don", thus less commonly spelled "domburi") is a
Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish,
meat, vegetables 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
oyakodon, Tsuji (1980) recommends dashi flavored with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and
sugar. For gyudon, Tsuji recommends water flavored with dark soy sauce and mirin.
Variety of donburi
Traditional Japanese donburi include the following:
- Tamagodon (玉子丼): a scrambled egg mixed with sweet donburi sauce on rice.
- Oyakodon (親子丼): simmered chicken, egg and
onion on rice.
- Katsudon (カツ丼): breaded deep-fried pork cutlets
(tonkatsu), onion, and egg on rice.
- Tenshindon (天津丼): a Chinese-Japanese specialty, consisting of a crabmeat
omelet on rice, named for Tianjin, China.
- Tekkadon (鉄火丼): thin-sliced raw tuna over rice. Spicy tekkadon is made with what can
be a mix of spicy ingredients, a spicy orange sauce, or both (usually incorporates spring onions).
- Negitorodon (ネギトロ丼): diced toro (fatty tuna) and
negi (spring onions) on rice.
- Tendon (天丼): tempura shrimp and vegetables on rice.
- Gyūdon (牛丼): beef and onion on rice.
- Unadon (鰻丼): unagi kabayaki (grilled eel) on rice.
Donburi can be made from almost any ingredients, however, including left-overs. Inexpensive Chinese restaurants in Japan often serve chūkadon (中華丼) or
gomoku-chukadon (五目中華丼)—stir-fried assorted vegetables with some meat over rice in a big bowl. Not traditionally Japanese
or Chinese, the hybrid dish indicates the popularity of donburi in Japan.
Various donburi may be found at ja:Category:Donburi images.
Home-made
A simple home-made donburi meal might be made by sautéing onions until cooked and then
adding simmering sauce, bite-sized pieces of chicken (or meat or tofu or other main ingredient) and
simmering until all is cooked. One or two lightly beaten eggs and sliced scallion are added and
all is simmered until the eggs are nearly cooked (edges set). The nearly set egg and meat concoction together with the nearly
boiled away donburi simmering sauce are poured on top of hot rice in a donburi bowl. Served hot and eaten with chopsticks.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
References
- Tsuji, Shizuo. (1980). Japanese cooking: A simple art. Kodansha International/USA, New York.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
