Sanshoku-don (Three-Color Rice Bowls)
Updated May 22, 2024
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1pound ground chicken (see Tip)
- 1tablespoon finely minced or grated fresh ginger
- 3tablespoons shoyu
- 2tablespoons sake
- 2tablespoons mirin
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2tablespoons water or dashi
- 4large eggs
- 2tablespoons mirin
- Salt
- Salt
- 1cup frozen peas or French-cut green beans, or 3 packed cups fresh baby spinach, baby kale or other tender greens (optional, see Tip)
- 6cups cooked Japanese short-grain white rice, such as Koshihikari or Calrose
- Handful of sliced scallions
- Beni-shoga (see Tip)
For the Chicken
For the Eggs
For Greens and Assembly
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Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the chicken: Combine chicken, ginger, shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar and water in a large nonstick or carbon-steel skillet, saucepan or wok. Set the pan over medium heat and cook, using chopsticks or a spoon to stir and break the chicken down into very small pieces, about 5 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the liquid in the pan evaporates and the chicken starts to brown slightly, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and set it aside.
- Step 2
Prepare the eggs: Rinse out the pan (you don’t need to dry it). Combine the eggs, mirin and a pinch of salt in the now-empty pan. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the eggs are just set but still very moist, 2 to 3 minutes. (There will be some sticking to the pan.) Transfer the eggs to a bowl and set aside.
- Step 3
Prepare the greens (optional): Wipe out and rinse the pan (you don’t need to dry it), add 1 cup water, season with salt to taste, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Add the frozen vegetables or fresh greens, and cook, stirring constantly, until just heated through but still bright green. Drain thoroughly. (If using a leafy green, set the cooked greens in a strainer over the sink, and, using a spatula, press down them to drain any extra liquid.)
- Step 4
To assemble, divide the rice among 4 bowls or bento boxes. Top with chicken, eggs and greens, arranging each ingredient so it covers a third of the rice. Sprinkle with scallions and add a pinch of beni-shoga to the center of each. Serve hot bowls immediately, or close bento boxes (see Tips).
- You can use any ground meat or vegetarian ground meat alternative in place of the chicken. Lean meat works best for this dish, but you can always drain excess fat off the meat in Step 4, before spooning the meat over the rice.
- Beni-shoga is bright red or pink slivered pickled ginger that can be found in Japanese markets or well-stocked supermarkets. You can also use sushi gari or other types of Japanese pickles if you prefer.
- For best flavor, don’t refrigerate bento boxes after packing, just make sure to consume within four hours of packaging the hot food for safety. The individual toppings can also be prepared in advance and reheated in the microwave until piping hot before packing and closing bento boxes.
Private Notes
Comments
This is a recipe we repeat often. My two young girls can't get enough. I always make extra eggs because they just gobble them up. The grownups like to top with Sriracha mayo to spice it up. Quick, easy, nutritious and things I generally keep stocked.
Halved the recipe, for two. Will certainly cook again, and certainly cook more egg. No need to add sugar in the chicken, as mirin is already sweet. We didnt have ginger pickle, so i pickled thinly sliced cucumber, grated carrot and thinly sliced (lengthways) spring onions in 1 tsp white sugar and 1.5 tbs vinegar for 30 mins, then drained, to top the dish. Worked very well.
I would be inclined not to rinse the pan either time it is suggested here.
Perfect easy bento meal and quite light. I thought the sweetness was well-balanced, but it would be easy to take out the granulated sugar in the meat mixture and I think it would still be great. I used sugar snap peas for the greens and they were delicious. In the future I could see just make edamame from frozen since I usually have some of those on hand. It looks so cute in a bento box!
This is a fantastic convenient recipe for busy folks. It’s easy to shop for, quick to cook, easy to double and reheats well. I doubled the recipe and my husband and I ate it for 4 days. To double, just do the turkey in two batches. No need to batch the eggs, they can all be cooked at once. Ditto for the veggies. I also omitted the additional sugar and it came out plenty sweet. For reference, I use Ohsawa mirin which has 3.5g of sugar per tablespoon.
I did not have a large nonstick or carbon steel pan, so I used my 12-inch stainless steel skillet for the meat (not the eggs). With a small amount of oil the meat does not stick, even with all the liquid. The process is easy, just add a small amount of oil to the pan, add the meat and mix in the other ingredients. The oil will disappear into the meat mix and there will be meat stuck to the pan, this is ok. Just cook over a medium flame without disturbing and give it some time to cook at the bottom. Then use a thin metal spatula to get under the layer of cooked meat to lift it off the pan. This will be around halfway through the cooking time. The meat should come off easily and might even have some browning. Mix and finish cooking. You’ll notice that the oil which was embedded in the meat will eventually find its way to the bottom of the pan and prevent it from sticking there.
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