Salmon Teriyaki Donburi with Vegetables, Sesame and Roast Nori

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Salmon Teriyaki Donburi is one of my absolute favourite rice bowls. There’s a good reason Teriyaki is one of Japan’s most well known sauces – it is a totally delicious sweet, salty, sticky, shiny, sauce which packs a huge flavour punch with layers of unami. Even better, it is very quick to make! When combined with fluffy rice, melt in the mouth salmon, crispy cucumber and broccoli, sweet tomatoes, sesame seeds, spring onions and roast seaweed, you will have a meal with a variety of textures and flavours which will excite all your senses and tastebuds.

I include a recipe for Teriyaki sauce here but pre-made versions are also widely available in most supermarkets. They do vary however and some can be far too sweet so I much prefer to make my own. The ingredients should all be available in large supermarkets and most definitely in Asian supermarkets. Alternatively, try on line. The Japan Centre in the UK has a good selection of ingredients and delivers over the whole of the UK.

What are Donburi Bowls?

Donburi recipes, or Rice Bowls, always start with a bowl of steaming fluffy rice served with a variety of toppings including meat, fish, vegetables and often a sauce which soaks into, and deliciously flavours, the rice below. Hugely popular in Japan and easy to prepare at home, this concept lends itself well to many adaptations and is ideal when using seasonal food and flexible enough to ensure you can use food you have available at home. Donburi really is the ultimate Japanese comfort food.

Sources for Japanese Recipes:

Whilst I plan to post some more Donburi recipes, I also recommend that you take a look at the following 2 websites for ideas. They are both fabulous and I use and refer to them often.

Just One Cookbook is run by Nami, a Japanese lady living in San Francisco. She has a range of Donburi recipes as well as many, many more delicious recipes and travel guides.

Also take a look at Recipe Tin Japan run by Yumiko who emigrated from Japan to Australia in the 1980s. This blog was set up more recently so there are fewer recipes on it but fabulous nevertheless and growing all the time. She has a few Donburi recipes, as well as other recipes and information about Japanese cuisine.

Yumiko’s daughter Nagi, by the way, runs one of Australia’s most popular food blogs and is definitely worth taking a look – Recipe Tin Eats.

Back to Salmon Teriyaki Donburi:

Anyway, back to Salmon Teriyaki Donburi. Teriyaki is a sweet Japanese sauce made with soy sauce, sake, and mirin, (a sweet sake used in cooking). It is not a marinade, rather a glaze, which you spoon or brush onto the meat or fish whilst it is cooking. This Donburi recipe includes:

• a base layer of steaming hot fluffy Japanese rice
• a fillet of salmon glazed with Teriyaki sauce
• some broccoli, cucumber and tomatoes
• a garnish of sesame seeds, spring onions, coriander and toasted nori (seaweed)

This dish is a complete meal mixing a wonderful and harmonious array of flavours and textures. The delicious sauce trickles down into the rice below ensuring you can enjoy the wonderful sweet sticky sauce through to the last mouthful.

How to make Teriyaki Sauce

This Donburi is very quick and easy to make, particularly if you have made the teriyaki sauce in advance. Once made, the sauce will keep well in the fridge, stored in an sealed container, for up to 1 month so I highly recommend doubling or tripling the quantities recommended here and keeping a batch ready to use in the fridge.

Collect the ingredients together for the Teriyaki Sauce:

• soy sauce. I use Kikkoman, salt reduced. Try to use Japanese soy sauce. If you only have light soy sauce, that will be fine but do not use dark soy sauce. It is too strong.
• cooking sake
• mirin
• water
• sugar

For more details on how to make the Teriyaki Sauce, please see here.

1. In short: combine the soy sauce, cooking sake, mirin and water in a saucepan. Bring to a brisk simmer and reduce by half.
2. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.

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Make the Donburi Bowl:

Collect the ingredients together for the Donburi Bowl:

• rice (see Recipe Notes below)
• and a couple of small sheets of nori/seaweed
• skinless salmon fillets – for information on how to remove the salmon skin, please see here.
• teriyaki sauce
• broccoli – add to boiling, salted water and cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Drain well.
• cucumber – halved and sliced
• cherry tomatoes – halved
• spring onions – trimmed and sliced
• sesame seeds
• coriander leaves – chopped

Bring it all together:

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and cook according to packet instructions. For detailed instructions on cooking Japanese rice, please see Recipe Tin Japan here
2. Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat and add the nori. Cook in the dry pan for around 1 minute on each side until slightly toasted.
3. Remove from the pan and cut into strips.
4. Add a little sesame oil to the frying pan over a moderately hot temperature. Cook the salmon flesh side down for around 3 minutes and then turn the salmon over and cook for a further 3 minutes.
5. Your salmon will most likely release quite a lot of oil. I like to remove this. I hold some kitchen paper in kitchen tongs and dab the oil letting it absorb into the paper. Throw this away.
6. Add the teriyaki sauce and bring to the boil.
7. Spoon the glaze over the salmon as it cooks until it is thick, shiny and sticking to the salmon a little.
8. As the salmon cooks, prepare the vegetables as described above and then layer the donburi bowl –
   1. rice
   2. salmon fillet
   3. teriyaki sauce
   4. broccoli, cucumber and tomatoes
   5. scatter over the sesame seeds, coriander and nori.

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Made this recipe?

If you make any of these recipes, do please tag me on instagram @daffodilkitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.