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–+ servings

Unagi Donburi (Japanese Grilled Eel Rice Bowl)

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 portions

Ingredients 
 

Unagi Sauce

Unagi don

  • 300 g filleted freshwater eels buy gutted and boned, conger eel or catfish stand in if eel is out of reach
  • 2 tbsp sake
  • 2 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice or Korean short-grain/Calrose
  • Japanese sansho pepper optional but recommended

Instructions 

Unagi Sauce

  • Pour 3 tbsp turbinado sugar and 1 tsp dark brown sugar into a cold saucepan. Set the pan on the stove and heat over medium-low.
    turbinado sugar and dark brown sugar in a pan to make unagi sauce
  • When the sugar starts to melt, add 5 tbsp sake and 5 tbsp mirin. Bring to boil and let it cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    melted sugar, mirin and sake in a sauce pan to make unagi sauce
  • Reduce the heat to a simmer and add 5 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu). Stir occasionally, and simmer until slightly thickened (about 10 minutes).
    adding soy sauce to pan to make unagi sauce
  • Scoop off any foam that formed on top, and remove the pan from the heat. Leave it cool while you prepare the eel.
    thickening unagi sauce in a saucepan

Unagi don

  • Wash 300 g filleted freshwater eels with cold running water. Cover a chopping board with a sheet of plastic wrap and place the eel on top. To cut the eel, gently press the blade of the knife in the place you want to cut, then hold the knife still and slide the eel backwards and forwards as you slowly move the knife down. Cut the eel fillets in halves or thirds.
    cut unagi on a wooden cutting board lined with plastic wrap
  • Place the eel skin-side down in a cold frying pan and pour 2 tbsp sake around them.
    eel fillets in a frying pan to make unagi
  • Cover with a lid and heat on medium-low. When it starts to steam, set a timer for 3 minutes. While you wait, preheat the grill/broiler on medium-high.
    unagi steaming in a frying pan with a clear lid on the stove top
  • After 3 minutes, remove the pan from the heat. Line a wire rack with foil and place it over a baking tray. Arrange the eel on the wire rack so that the skin side is facing the heat source. Slide under the grill/broiler and cook for 6 minutes. 
    eel (unagi) fillets on foil on a Japanese fish grill
  • Turn the eel over and grill the skin side for 5 minutes or until lightly charred.
    unagi with the skin side facing up on a Japanese fish grill
  • Side the tray out and brush an even layer of sauce all over the skin. Return it to the grill for 30 seconds or until it looks lacquered (keep an eye on it, the sauce burns quickly if left).
    Yuto Omura brushing the skin side of grilled unagi with homemade kabayaki sauce
  • Carefully flip the eel over, apply the sauce to the other side and grill for 30 seconds. Flip and repeat six times in total, so each side has been brushed with sauce and grilled three times each.
    Yuto Omura brushing the flesh side of grilled unagi with homemade kabayaki sauce
  • Divide 2 portions cooked Japanese short-grain rice into serving bowls and brush the top with leftover unagi sauce.
    Rice brushed with unagi tare in a red donburi bowl
  • Place the eel on top and sprinkle with Japanese sansho pepper. Enjoy!
    Unagi don sprinkled with sansho pepper, served in a red bowl

Notes

Guard against scorching above all else: The sauce is loaded with sugar, and once a glazed coat tips from glossy to black it is gone. Watch every pass and pull the eel the instant it looks lacquered.
Hold each glaze coat to about 30 seconds: Past that line the sugar burns and the glaze turns bitter instead of caramelized. Brush, grill briefly, flip, repeat. Never leave it one long stretch over the flame.
Do not skip the sake steam: Steaming the eel skin-side down in sake before it ever sees the grill is what separates melting flesh from eel that stops at fine.
Cook the rice a touch firm: Use slightly less water than usual so the grains stay distinct. Soft rice collapses into mush under the warm sauce and rendered eel fat, and the bowl loses its contrast.