Donburi 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. When needed to distinguish, the bowl is called donburi-bachi and the dish is called donburi-mono. Donburi is sometimes called "sweetened" or "savory stews on rice". The simmering sauce varies according to season, ingredients, region, and taste. A typical sauce might consist of dashi flavored with soy sauce and mirin. Proportions vary, but there is normally three to four times as much dashi as soy sauce and mirin. For oyakodon, Tsuji 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 of donburi
Traditional Japanese donburi include the following:
''Gyūdon''
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, soy sauce and mirin. It also often includes shirataki noodles, and is sometimes topped with a raw egg or a soft poached egg.
''Butadon''
Buta means pork. "Butadon" 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
Tendon consists of tempura on a bowl of rice. The name "tendon" is an abbreviation of tempura and donburi.
''Tentamadon''
Tentamadon consists of tempura which is simmered with beaten egg and topped on rice.
''Unadon''
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 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 faced down. Una-don was the first type of donburirice dish, invented in the late Edo period, during the Bunka era
''Tamagodon''
Tamagodon consists of a scrambled egg mixed with sweet donburi sauce on rice.
''Oyakodon''
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 Tanindon.
''Katsudon''
Katsudon consists of breaded deep-fried pork cutlets and onion are simmered and binding by beaten egg, then topped on rice. There are some regional variations in Japan.
''Sōsukatsudon''
Sōsukatsudon is similar to Katsudon, but with sliced cabbage and sweet-salty sauce instead of egg.
Karēdon consists of thickened curry flavored dashi on rice. It was derived from curry udon or curry nanban. Sold at soba/udon restaurants.
''Tekkadon''
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.
''Hokkaidon''
Hokkaidon consists of thinly-sliced raw salmon over rice.
''Negitorodon''
Negitorodon consists of diced toro and negi on rice.
''Ikuradon''
Ikuradon is seasoned ikura on rice.
''Kaisendon''
Kaisendon consists of thinly-sliced sashimi on rice. Fish roe may also be included.
''Tenshindon'' or ''Tenshin-han''
Tenshindon or Tenshin-han is a Chinese-Japanese specialty, consisting of a crabmeat omelet on rice; this dish is named for the city ofTianjin.
