Japanese Cooking: Tamago-don

(This recipe is courtesy Kobayashi Chikashi)
This past Sunday I had a friend over for anime watching. At around dinner time we decided, “Hey we’re like hungry and stuff.” I didn’t feel like making anything major or involved and was going to make some udon when Chikashi said he knew how to make an easy Japanese dish that didn’t involve noodles (Yay! I’m so tired of noodles!)

All we needed were things that most folks already have in their kitchen; like eggs, onions, tuna, soy sauce, ect. This dish is incredibly easy to make and really, really inexpensive. I think that if I priced out everything we used for a generous meal for two that it would come out to around $3 total, excluding the condiments.

I made this for my mom last night during my visit back to C’dale (bleh, it’s so humid here in So. IL right now) and she loved it. She commented while I was preparing the tamago don that it sounds like Japanese bachelor food…hehehe, it most certainly is.

Tamago don translates as “egg” and “bowl” can be made with anything you already have in the cupboard or you can go all out and fancify it by buying some shrimp or squid.

INGREDIENTS

(for one serving):

• 1/3 onion, sliced as thin as possible
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of mirin (mirin is sweet Japanese cooking wine. Use sake or sherry with a tablespoon ‘o suagr if you don’t have mirin)
• ½ tablespoon of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of prepared dashi soup (chicken or veggie is good if you don’t have dashi)
• 1 can o’ tuna
• Or whatever you feel like putting in the don (I used tuna and chanterelle ‘shrooms last night) some ideas are:
• Salmon
• Squid
• Shrimp
• Pork
• Beef
• Peas
• Cheese
• Carrots
• Ham
• Chicken
• TVP (textured veggie protein, recognize)
• Tofu (fried would be good)
• Rice to serve Tamago don over
• Nori for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat a shallow oiled frying pan. Cook onions over medium heat in the pan until just tender, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add soy sauce, mirin, sugar, dashi, and tuna to frying pan. Stir well.
3. Crack eggs into bowl and gently whisk two or three times, being careful not to beat them together.
4. Pour eggs over tuna and onion mixture. Carefully stir eggs into the mixture but DO NOT BEAT them or over stir them or you’ll have scrambled eggs and not tamago don.
5. Shake the pan to keep the eggs from sticking and to cook them evenly. After the egg whites turn slightly opaque, remove pan from heat and put a lid over it for a few minutes. This will steam cook the eggs.
6. Spoon however much rice you like into a bowl. Lift tamago don with a spatula and serve it over the rice. Cut the nori into thin, inch and a half long strips and sprinkle on top of the tamago.
7. Enjoy!

I liked this dish very much and will definitely make it again. I liked it because:

• It was hella fast to make. The tamago don only took 10 minutes to make, but the rice took 30 min. So to be quick, time it out or use leftover rice.
• It was inexpensive and the ingredients were readily available.
• This meal was low fat and high flavor. If you use tuna or tofu and/or an egg substitute like Egg Beaters it’ll be even healthier.

I can’t complain at all on this recipe, personally. If you’re single and only cooking for one, you’re short on time, you can’t cook or are waiting for payday, tamago don is right up your alley.

• Difficulty: Very Easy
• Time: 10-30 min. (depending on rice)
• Ingredient Availability: Very Easy