Donburi

Donburi (kanji: 丼; hiragana: どんぶり, lit. "bowl", also frequently abbreviated as "don", thus less commonly spelled "domburi") is a Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are served in oversized rice bowls also called donburi. Donburi are sometimes called sweetened or savory stews on rice.

The simmering sauce varies according to season, ingredient, region, and taste. A typical sauce might consist of dashi flavored with shoyu and mirin. Proportions vary, but there is normally three to four times as much dashi as shoyu and mirin. For oyakodon, Tsuji (1980) recommends dashi flavored with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. For gyudon, Tsuji recommends water flavored with dark soy sauce and mirin.

Variety of donburi

Traditional Japanese donburi include the following:

Tamagodon (玉子丼): a scrambled egg mixed with sweet donburi sauce on rice.
Oyakodon (親子丼): simmered chicken, egg and onion on rice.
Katsudon (カツ丼): breaded deep-fried pork cutlets (tonkatsu), onion, and egg on rice.
Tenshindon (天津丼): a Chinese-Japanese specialty, consisting of a crabmeat omelet on rice,this is called 天津飯 tenshinhan, named for Tianjin, China.
Tekkadon (鉄火丼): thin-sliced raw tuna over rice. Spicy tekkadon is made with what can be a mix of spicy ingredients, a spicy orange sauce, or both (usually incorporates spring onions).
Negitorodon (ネギトロ丼): diced toro (fatty tuna) and negi (spring onions) on rice.
Tendon (天丼): tempura shrimp and vegetables on rice.
Gyūdon (牛丼): beef and onion on rice.
Unadon (鰻丼): unagi kabayaki (grilled eel) on rice.

Donburi can be made from almost any ingredients, including left-overs. Inexpensive Chinese restaurants in Japan often serve chūkadon (中華丼) or gomoku-chukadon (五目中華丼)—stir-fried assorted vegetables with some meat over rice in a big bowl. Not traditionally Japanese or Chinese, the hybrid dish indicates the popularity of donburi in Japan.