Unagi Donburi (Japanese Grilled Eel Rice Bowl)
https://sudachirecipes.comUnagidon is a luxurious dish made with grilled eel coated in a special sweet and sticky sauce served on rice. It's typically enjoyed as a summer treat and here I will teach you how to prepare and cook eel, as well as make the delicious unagi sauce from scratch!
Ingredients
Unagi Sauce
Unagi don
- 300 g filleted eels 1 fillet is approx 150g
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice see here for how to cook Japanese rice
- ground Japanese pepper (sansho) optional
Instructions
Unagi Sauce
- Add 3 tbsp turbinado sugar and 1 tsp dark brown sugar to a saucepan. Place the pan on the stove and turn on the heat to medium-high.
- Once the sugar starts to melt, add 75 ml sake and 75 ml mirin. Bring to boil and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add 75 ml soy sauce and turn down the heat to simmer.
- Simmer until thickened slightly (about 10 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent the sugar from burning. Remove from the heat and allow to cool while preparing the eel.
Unagi don
- Wash 300 g filleted eels with cold running water. Cover a chopping board with a sheet of plastic wrap and place the eel on top. Cut each eel into 2-3 pieces by pressing a sharp knife into the area you want to cut, and pushing the eel back and forth over the plastic wrap.
- Place the eel in a cold frying pan with the skin side down and add 2 tbsp sake.
- Turn on the heat on medium and steam for 5 minutes with the lid on. While it's steaming, preheat the grill/broiler on medium-high for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and transfer the eel skin side down to a wire rack lined with aluminum foil. Grill for 6 minutes.
- Turn the eel over and grill the skin side for 5 minutes.
- Apply the sauce generously but evenly over the skin and grill for 30 seconds.
- Turn the eel over and apply the sauce on the meat side and grill for 30 seconds. Repeat brushing and grilling each side twice more (3 times in total).
- Dish up 2 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice and brush the top with the leftover sauce.
- Place the eel on top and sprinkle with ground Japanese pepper (sansho).
- Enjoy!
