Once I made my dashi this past Sunday, the first two things I could think of to make with this potent umami ingredient were miso soup and oyakodon. Oyakodon, for whatever reason, has always seemed like a deceptively simple dish. All it really is made of is chicken, egg, some kind of seasoning/broth, over a steaming hot bowl of rice. Oyakodon is one of the main comfort foods of Japan – it’s satisfying, comforting, hot, and quick to make (and eat). In Japanese, “oya” means parent and “ko” means “child.” This references the chicken (parent) and the egg (child).

Before I made dashi, I always assumed that oyakodon was complicated. Whenever I’ve had it at Japanese restaurants, it always tasted so complex yet comforting. Steaming hot chicken and egg with Japanese seasonings over rice is hard to get wrong. But with a sweet savory combination of homemade dashi, some soy sauce, a little sugar, and some scallions, chicken slices and onions get simmered and become this umami bomb of flavors. The egg is swirled in during the last minute of cooking to barely be done and look like ribbons on top of the bowl.

Now that I know how easy this is to make (as long as you have dashi, or even dashi powder), this could become a new staple to make. It’s even a one-pot dish! It’s funny how over the years, when I’ve thought things were too complicated to make, they’ve actually become quite simple once you get one or two basic ingredients or steps down.