Unadon is a Japanese donburi dish consisting of cooked rice topped with grilled eel fillets, glazed with a thick, sweet soy-flavoured sauce. The sauce is similar to the teriyaki sauce in my recipe, Teriyaki Chicken, but the flavour is much stronger. It goes so well with the oily flesh of the eel.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 1 pack frozen grilled eel fillet (thawed, note 1)
- 2 tbsp cooking sake
- 200g / 7.1oz cooked rice (hot)
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1½ tbsp sugar
-
If your grilled eel comes with the head, cut the head off and use it for your Unadon Tare (note 3).
-
Halve the fillet so that you have the front half and the back half of the fillet.
-
Place the fillets in a non-stick frying pan (note 4) without overlapping, skin-side down, and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cooking sake over the fish.
-
Turn the heat on to low and steam cook for a minute with a lid on.
-
Turn the fillet over. If there is no liquid left, add the remaining sake to the pan and steam-cook with the lid on for another minute.
-
turn the fillet over again and turn the heat off.
-
Put rice in a serving bowl, levelling the surface.
-
Using a basting brush, baste the surface of the rice with the tare.
-
Place the eel fillets on the rice, skin side down, covering the surface of the rice. Pour the rest of the sauce over the eel.
-
Sprinkle sanshō over the eel and serve while hot.
-
Put cooking sake and mirin into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.
-
After boiling for 1 minute or so, add the remaining ingredients and the head or the tail bit of the eel (if using) to the pan.
-
When it starts boiling again, reduce the heat to low and continue to cook until the sauce thickens (bubbles on the surface become larger and start rising) and is reduced to about half the volume.
-
Turn the heat off. When cooled down, the sauce will thicken further.
1. Depending on the brand, 1 pack of grilled eel can weigh 120-150g / 4.2-5.3oz. My eel was 140g / 4.9oz. If larger than 150g / 5.2oz, you may want to serve a half or 2/3 of it.
The price of frozen grilled eel varies significantly depending on where the eel was caught and packed. The most expensive and delicious eel is from the Shimanto (四万十) region in Japan (see the sample photo in post). The Chinese pack is the cheapest.
2. You can buy sanshō powder from Japanese grocery stores. It comes in a large quantity, like a tall bottle of ground pepper, but you can use sanshō powder on meat etc in place of pepper.
Alternatively, you can use ground Sichuan pepper.
3. My eel did not come with a head, but the tail end was a bit dry. So, I cut about 2cm / ¾” long piece off the eel from the tail end and added it to the tare. It adds a better flavour to the tare.
4. If you don't have a non-stick frying pan, place a cooking paper on the frying pan, then place the fillets on. top.
5. Nutrition per serving. It assumes that you used up all the sauce, but you probably won't.
serving: 464g calories: 738kcal fat: 17g (26%) saturated fat: 3.5g (18%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 1.6g monounsaturated fat: 10g cholesterol: 176mg (59%) sodium: 1833mg (76%) potassium: 606mg (17%) carbohydrates: 93g (31%) dietary fibre: 1.1g (4%) sugar: 32g protein: 34g vitamin a: 97% vitamin c: 4.2% calcium: 4.8% iron: 20%