Today’s Avocado Donburi with Soy Sauce Cured Egg Yolks has all the appearance of a 30-minute meal. And trust me, it takes as much effort as a 30-minute meal. But alas, this dish is an exercise in patience. So if you want this beauty in your weekly line-up, and trust me, you do, you need a little forethought. But before we get to how we make it, let’s talk about what it is. This Avocado Donburi features a bed of fluffy rice, drizzled with a reduced soy sauce and mirin syrup, and topped with buttery slices of avocado and a soy sauce-cured egg yolk. Yeah, it’s simple, but it tastes deceptively complex.
Donburi is a workers’ dish. Its origins date back to the Muromachi Period (1330-1570) in Japan. A dish called houhan. Originally a temple meal, the dish consisted of a bowl of rice topped with stewed vegetables, with dashi ladled over. The dish’s components adhered to the five-element philosophy, in which each component had to be balanced with the others. A concept that the far less lofty donburi would not inherit. But what Houhan did establish was the idea that a single bowl could contain a complete meal.
While rice is and was part of most traditional Japanese meals, it usually appeared in a small bowl as a side dish. Before the 1600s, it was considered impolite to eat rice and other side dishes together. But as the Edo Period took hold and the bustle of modernity increased, an influx of food stalls serving cheap, quick food emerged.
The first donburi appeared in the early 19th century, during the Bunka era (1804-1818) of the Edo period (1603-1868), in the form of Unadon, or an Eel Rice Bowl, which you can still easily order today. The purpose of the dish was to fill the bellies of labourers and theatre-goers, who didn’t have the time and/or the means for a multi-course meal. Today, donburi is still “the ultimate salaryman lunch” for its speed, affordability, and heartiness.
Donburi gets its name from the vessel it graces. Donburi literally translates to “bowl,” and what a bowl it is! The dish is typically served in a donburi-bachi, a bowl capable of holding 900ml of food. It’s basically the Big Gulps of bowls. Is today’s Avocado Donburi 900ml of food? I must confess I did not weigh the final dish. Frankly, I’m not sure I could eat that amount of food. But I will say, this Avocado Donburi did satisfy me, and I ate it in record time, so as far as I’m concerned, it fulfilled its donburi destiny.
As I mentioned, this Avocado Donburi isn’t a 30-minute meal; it just feels like one. The soy sauce-cured egg yolks are quite obviously the holdup, but they are worth every minute they luxuriate. And you’re not just getting stellar yolks out of the deal, you’re also getting a kick ass sauce for your donburi. Got to love a condiment that can multitask.
So after your yolks have turned into gooey, buttery, umami-rich excellence, you’re almost home free. But first, we have to rinse the rice, and yes, this also does take some time. But donburi is fairly reliant on rice, so it pays to give it its best shot at being excellent. And rinsing your rice will keep the grains tender and separated. No one wants a donburi with clumpy rice.
From there, this Avocado Donburi is more or less a plating exercise. Make a bed of glossy rice and drizzle it with the soy sauce cure you made for your yolks. Reduce it for 15 minutes before adding it to your rice; it will take on a lovely syrupy texture. Now add your avocado slices in the most aesthetically pleasing way you can muster. Leave space in the centre of the bowl to place your soy sauce-cured egg yolk, and finish your bowl with a sprinkling of torogashi and microgreens if you’re into that sort of thing. And that’s your Avocado Donburi all dressed and ready.
Hope you enjoy this one!
Avocado Donburi with Soy Sauce Cured Egg Yolks
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Pour the soy sauce, mirin, water, and sugar into a small saucepan. Add the kombu and bring the mixture up to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup mirin, ½ cup water, 1 tbsp granulated sugar , 1 3×3" piece kombu
- When the 15 minutes are up, take the saucepan off the heat. Remove and discard the kombu and pour the mixture into a resealable container. Set aside to cool until at least lukewarm.
- Lower the yolks into the cooled soy sauce mixture. Cover with a piece of paper towel. The paper towel will help keep the yolks immersed in the cure. Alternatively, you can flip the yolks every 12 hours to ensure they cure evenly. Leave the yolks to cure for 24-48 hours.8 egg yolks
- When the yolks are ready, remove them from the cure and place them in a resealable container. Pour the cure into a large skillet and place it over medium heat. Boil the cure for 10 minutes or until it reaches a syrupy consistency. Transfer to a jar and set aside to cool.
- Rinse the sushi rice under cold water until the water runs clear. Pour the rice into a small saucepan or a rice cooker. Add the water and cook. For the stovetop version, bring the rice and water up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let cook for 15-18 minutes or until the rice is fluffy.2 ¼ cups sushi rice, 2 ½ cups water
- Transfer the rice to bowls. Drizzle the rice with the reduced soy sauce cure. Cover the rice with avocado slices and top the bowls with the Soy Sauce Cured Egg Yolks, microgreens, and a sprinkling of toragashi and sesame seeds.4 avocados, ¼ cup radish microgreens , 1 tbsp toragashi , 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
