is a Japanese "rice-bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are usually served in oversized rice bowls which are also called donburi. If one needs to distinguish, the bowl is called and the food is called .
The simmering sauce varies according to season, ingredients, region, and taste. A typical sauce might consist of dashi (stock broth) flavored with soy sauce and mirin (rice wine). Proportions vary, but there is normally three to four times as much dashi as soy sauce and mirin. For oyakodon, Tsuji (1980) recommends dashi flavored with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. For gyūdon, Tsuji recommends water flavored with dark soy sauce and mirin.
Donburi can be made from almost any ingredients, including leftovers.
Varieties Traditional Japanese donburi include the following:
Gyūdon
, is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with dashi (fish and seaweed stock), soy sauce and mirin (sweet rice wine). It also often includes shirataki noodles, and is sometimes topped with a raw egg or a soft poached egg (onsen tamago).
Butadon
Buta means pork. is a dish made with pork instead of beef in a mildly sweet sauce. Butadon originated in Hokkaido but is now enjoyed all over Japan.
Tendon
consists of tempura on a bowl of rice. The name "tendon" is an abbreviation of and .
Tentamadon consists of tempura which is simmered with beaten egg and topped on rice.
Unadon
is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a donburi type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel (unagi) grilled in a style known as kabayaki, similar to teriyaki. The fillets are glazed with a sweetened soy-based sauce, called tare and caramelized, preferably over charcoal fire. The fillets are not flayed, and the grayish skin side is placed face-down. Una-don was the first type of donburi rice dish, invented in the late Edo period, during the Bunka era (1804–1818)
Oyakodon
consists of simmered chicken, egg, and sliced scallion served on top of a large bowl of rice. The chicken is also sometimes replaced with beef or pork in a variation referred to as .
Katsudon
consists of breaded deep-fried pork cutlets (tonkatsu) and onion are simmered and binding by beaten egg, then topped on rice. There are some regional variations in Japan.
Tamagodon consists of a scrambled egg mixed with sweet donburi sauce on rice.
Kitsunedon consists of abura-age, egg, and sliced scallion with sweet donburi sauce on rice. Kitsunedon is also called Kinugasadon in Kyoto.
Sōsukatsudon is similar to katsudon, but with sliced cabbage and sweet-salty sauce instead of egg.
Konohadon is similar to oyakodon, but using thin sliced kamaboko pieces instead of chicken meat. Popular in Kansai area.
Karēdon consists of thickened curry-flavored dashi on rice. It was derived from curry udon or curry nanban (a soba dish). Sold at soba/udon restaurants.
Tekkadon
consists of thinly sliced raw tuna on rice. Spicy tekkadon is made with what can be a mix of spicy ingredients, a spicy orange sauce, or both (usually incorporating spring onions).
Hokkaidon consists of thinly sliced raw salmon over rice.
Negitorodon consists of negitoro, a combination of diced toro (fatty tuna) and negi (spring onions), on rice.
Ikuradon
is seasoned ikura (salmon roe) on rice.
Kaisendon
consists of thinly sliced sashimi on rice. Fish roe may also be included.
Tenshindon or tenshin-han
is a Chinese-Japanese specialty, consisting of a crabmeat omelet on rice; this dish is named for the city of Tianjin.
Chūkadon
consists of a bowl of rice with stir-fried vegetables, onions, mushrooms, and thin slices of meat on top. This dish is similar to chop suey, and is sold at inexpensive Chinese restaurants in Japan.
Gallery
See also
Gaifan – similar Chinese dish Loco moco – similar Hawaiian dish Japanese cuisine List of Japanese dishes
References
Bibliography Tsuji, Shizuo (1980). Japanese cooking: A simple art. New York: Kodansha International/USA. .