Sanshoku Don is Japanese Comfort Food for All Ages

This is the meal I make when Alicia is hanging upside down on the rope ladder in our tiny play room, Wombat is in the bathroom trying to look at his own butt, and the cats are dissecting another roll of toilet paper. In other words: it’s quick, easy, and will get zero complaints from the kids when it’s actually time to eat.

Sanshoku don is a simple Japanese rice bowl topped with three components—typically seasoned ground meat, soft scrambled eggs, and greens—arranged in stripes over hot rice. It’s fast, flexible, and built for real-life weeknights.

The version below is adapted from my second book, The Wok: Recipes and Techniques. You’ll find it in the rice bowl section. If you don’t already have a copy, you can order a signed and personalized one from The Book Larder in Seattle—they ship worldwide.

Aside from its all-ages appeal, beauty of the dish is ts adaptability. It can be made with any type of ground or shaved meat or plant-based protein (chicken is common, my mom usually used beef), and any green vegetable. For the greens, use what you’ve got: blanched spinach, thawed frozen peas, snap peas, asparagus, green beans, etc. This is a format, not a rule.

The seasoning is the usual Japanese trio of soy sauce, sake, and mirin—sweet, savory, and satisying. You cook the mixture down until it’s dry and just starting to fry. That’s when the flavor’s concentrated and the alcohol has fully cooked off.

It's also an excellent meal to batch and prep ahead. It's almost as delicious cooled in a bento box as it is hot from the kitchen. I like to make extra-large batches of the meat, scrambled egg, and green vegetables and store them all separately so that I can microwave them into a hot lunch or pack them into Alicia's bento before school without much thought.

Sanshoku Don (Japanese Three-Colored Rice Bowls

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I like about this recipe:

• Fast to prep and cook, even in total chaos

• Kid-friendly, no convincing required

• Flexible: swap proteins and vegetables based on what you’ve got

Yield: Serves 4
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Note: Pork and chicken are the most common choices for the ground meat topping, but it will work with any ground meat you have, including vegan ground meat alternatives. You can use a cup of thinly sliced snap peas or two cups of tightly packed spinach leaves in place of the thawed frozen peas. Blanch snap peas or spinach in lightly salted boiling water for 1 minute, drain, and chill under cool running water, then dry carefully in a salad spinner or by pressing with paper towels.

For the Meat:

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) peanut, rice bran, or other neutral oil

• 1 tablespoon (7.5 g) minced fresh ginger (about 3⁄4- inch segment)

• 12 ounces (340 g) ground meat (see Notes) 2 tablespoons (30 ml) shoyu
2 tablespoons (30 ml) sake
2 tablespoons (30 ml) mirin

• 1 tablespoon (12.5 g) sugar

For the Egg:

• 3 to 4 large eggs
2 tablespoons (30 ml) mirin
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon (5 ml) peanut, rice bran, or other neutral

• oil

To Serve:

• 4 bowls hot rice
1 cup frozen peas (see Notes), thawed Beni-shoga or tsukemono, for garnish (optional)

Steps:

1. For the Meat: Heat the oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Immediately add the ground meat and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula, until it is mostly cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar and cook until all excess moisture evaporates and the mixture looks dry, a couple minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2. For the Eggs: Scramble the eggs with mirin and a pinch of salt. Rub a thin film of oil into a wok or skillet and heat over high heat until lightly smoking. Turn off the heat, add the remaining oil, swirl to coat, then immediately add the eggs. Return the wok to medium heat and cook, scrambling vigorously until the eggs are completely cooked through and broken into very fine pieces, but not browned, about 1 minute. Transfer to a separate bowl and set aside. At this stage, the meat and eggs can be stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

3. To Serve: Top bowls of hot rice with the meat mixture, egg, and green vegetables, dividing them into colored sections like a pie chart. Garnish with beni-shoga or tsukemono if desired.