Happy Japanuary! Day 1: Oyakodon Buri

I have designated this month "Japanuary".  We will be making Japanese dishes every night for dinner this month.  Cooking Japanese food is amazingly cheap.  I about cursed myself for not doing this earlier.  There are some basics to start your Japanese pantry, and you might even have a lot of the things you need.
Here's your list:
1. Soy Sauce
2. Dashi (it's basically fish bullion)
3. Mirin & Sake (I just have Mirin)
4. Sesame oil (this one is optional)
5. Short grain white rice
6. Fish Sauce or Oyster sauce
7. Ginger (they usually want the root- not the powder)
8. Rice Vinegar
9. (Anything I left out)
I think that covers the basics- we had most of them because my husband spent a couple of years in Japan on a Mission. He was more than a little excited about Japanuary.

Yesterday we had a delightfully simple, ugly, yet elegantly flavored Oyakodon Buri.  It's a basic soup that you serve with a slotted spoon over rice.  Oyakodon means "mother child"; Buri means "over rice".  I find this name grotesque because it doesn't refer to the loving relationship between a mother and child- but it refers to the use of chicken and eggs in this dish- so you are eating "mother child".  Seriously?  Well anyways, despite it's uncomforting name, it is a very comforting dish and we will definitely be making it often. It's so simple and elegantly flavored- you just get over the name and fall in love.  So, here's the recipe:
Oyakodon Buri
2 cups Dashi broth
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
3 Tbsp Mirin
3 Tbsp Brown sugar
1/2 lb chicken- cut in pieces
1 small onion- chopped
1 cup approximate of your favorite mushrooms- cut up
4 eggs
2 green onions- chopped
1. Dissolve the Dashi, Soy, mirin, and sugar together over medium heat.
2. Add chicken pieces & onion, then mushrooms-- cook thoroughly (10-15 minutes)
3. Add 4 scrambled eggs and cook for about 5 minutes. Stirring is not necessary.
~Serve with a slotted spoon over a bowl of rice & garnish with green onions.~
As I said, it is not beautiful looking.  I have some ideas about how to pretty up the dish. Also to note: not all recipes call for mushrooms and we added the green onions with the eggs instead of as an afterwards garnish. For a magazine ready Oyakodon Buri:
1. Cook chicken in a separate pan from the broth (with the onion & mushrooms if you're using them), And take about 1/4-1/2 cup of the broth to cook the chicken in & season it.
2. Once thoroughly cooked, lower heat & pour 4 scrambled eggs over the chicken.
3. Serve a portion of the egg/chicken from the pan over the bowl of rice & pour a bit of the broth over the bowl- sprinkle green onions over as a garnish.  

Japanese Word for the day:
Pronounce "Ton oh Shee": you have just said, "Fun" in Japanese.