Soboro Three-Color Rice Bowl (Sanshoku Don, 三色丼)

Easy and Exquisite!

Chicken Soboro Sanshoku Don (three-color rice bowl, 三食丼) is a staple of Japanese home-cooking featuring three types of colorful and seasoned ingredients (ground meat, scrambled egg, and green vegetables) served over a bowl of rice.

This dish plays a central role in Japanese food culture, symbolizing both "bento culture" and "beauty of presentation" (Irodori). Since the chicken soboro and scrambled eggs do not release much liquid and are delicious even when cold, they are staples in bento boxes. Ready in just 15 minutes and providing wonderfully-balanced nutrition, Sanshoku Don is widely popular as an "easy lunch" in busy modern life.

This recipe provides a consistently delicious flavor that the whole family will love, featuring chicken soboro (ground chicken) cooked to a sweet and savory, "moist and crumbly" texture, combined with dashi-flavored green vegetables and lightly sweet scrambled eggs.

Soboro Three-Color Rice Bowl (Sanshoku Don, 三色丼)

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes | Servings: 2

3 cups spinach, loosely packed (100g)

7 oz ground chicken

2 eggs

(A) 1 tsp soy sauce

(A) 0.5 tsp Japanese-style dashi powder (stock base)

(B) 2 tbsp sugar

(B) 2 tbsp soy sauce

(B) 2 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)

(B) 2 tbsp water

(B) 1 tbsp sake (or white wine)

(B) 0.5 tsp sesame oil

(C) 1 tbsp sake (or white wine)

(C) 2 tsp sugar

(C) 2 pinches of salt

2 tsp vegetable oil

cooked rice, 2 servings

1. Blanch the spinach in salted water, then immediately transfer to cold water. Squeeze out the moisture, cut into roughly 1 ¼-inch-long pieces, place in a bowl, and mix with the (A) ingredients (1tsp. soy sauce, ½ tsp. dashi powder).

2. Place the (B) ingredients (½ tsp. sesame oil, 1 tbsp. sake, and 2 tbsp. each of sugar, soy sauce, mirin, and water) in a saucepan or deep frying pan and add the ground chicken.

3. Heat over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until the liquid reduces, stirring constantly with chopsticks.

4. Beat the eggs, add the (C) ingredients (1 tbsp. sake, 2 tsp. sugar, 2 pinches of salt), and mix.

5. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat, pour in the egg mixture from Step 4, and scramble it with chopsticks to make iri tamago (scrambled eggs).

6. If you want the scrambled eggs to be finer, turn off the heat once the egg is cooked and break it up using a small whisk.

7. Serve the warm rice in bowls and top with the chicken soboro, scrambled eggs, and spinach in equal parts.

Tips & Notes

・Ground pork can be substituted for the ground chicken.

・Japanese mustard spinach (komatsuna) can be substituted for the spinach.

・Heating the ground meat and simmering liquid together and stirring constantly results in a moist, crumbly soboro.

・Adding a little sesame oil to the simmering liquid gives it a rich flavor. Try adding grated ginger for a twist.

・This chicken soboro is seasoned to be quite sweet, adjust the amount of sugar to taste.

・For plating, you can spread the rice flat and arrange the toppings evenly, but serving the rice in a fluffy mound and topping the ingredients high to create a three-dimensional look also makes for a beautiful presentation.