Update: Pictures updated in July 2012
Unagi Chazuke is one of my husband’s favorite dishes. Before we were married, the only unagi dish he knew was Unagi Don (Unadon/Broiled Eel over Rice). After I served the Unagi Chazuke to him the first time, he loved it so much that he only requests this dish whenever we have unagi. We had many Western style meals over the holidays, so it was nice to have a Japanese dish again. If you have tried Unadon and liked it, I hope you give this a try next time!
Ingredients:
- 1 fillet of precooked whole unagi (eel)
- 2 cups dashi stock
- 2-3 tsp. Konbucha
- 2 serving Japanese rice
- About 2-3 Tbsp. Unagi Sauce
- Chopped green onions for garnish
- Chopped mitsuba for garnish (optional)
- 1/2 Tbsp. white sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions:
- Cut Unagi in half (or maybe third) to fit inside your serving bowls. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and brush oil lightly (I use spray oil). Place unagi on top.
- WITHOUT preheat, put the baking sheet in the MIDDLE rack of your oven, and broil on high for 7 minutes (no need to flip).
- After 7 minutes or so, take it out and brush the Unagi Sauce over.
- Continue to broil for another 30 seconds to 60 seconds until you see bubbles on top of Unagi.
- Meanwhile in a small saucepan, combine dashi stock and konbucha and mix well.
- Serve rice in a bowl and pour or brush Unagi Sauce on the rice. You can cut Unagi into 1 inch pieces (optional - easier to eat with chopsticks) and put on top of rice. Pour/brush more Unagi Sauce.
- Right before you serve, pour the dashi/konbucha soup on top of Unagi and garnish with green onions, mitsuba and sesame seeds.
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Enjoy!
Hi, I'm Nami. Thanks for stopping by Just One Cookbook. You can read little bit more about me 
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Nami,
The new site and the picture look great! I’m very excited to continue learning from you!
xoxo,
Kimberly
Thanks Kimberly! My site requires a lot of improvement, but I’m working on it one at a time. I still need a few weeks before I make this site public… I appreciate any feedback and suggestion from you! Thanks again.
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to make it.
Thanks Sarah! It’s very easy and delicious. I hope you like it! Thank you for stopping by!
This looks so tasty! I’ve never had this before but it’s making me hungry!
Thanks Elyse!
This is so light and healthy! I am going to see if I can find cooked Unagi at my local Japanese grocery store!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Julie! Try to find Unagi from Japan. I tried Unagi from other countries and they weren’t so good. Hope you like it!
Una-jyu is also my only preference, looks like I’m overdue for a make-over!
Hi C&MSP! I hope you enjoy new way of eating Unagi!
Hi Nami:
I am a pretty experienced cook and a very experienced patron of Japanese restaurants. My children simply love unaju and I would love to make it for them. We are blessed with a large number of great Asian groceries in the area, so I am planning on buying fresh fillets (they’ll take them out of the tank and fillet them while you wait). It seems like a pretty simple broiling process, but all the recipes I can find call for frozen eel and bottled sauce. Any hints on broiling and recipes for good home-made sauce.
I love your blog.
Thanks.
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! Wow the Asian groceries in your area sell “live” eels?? That’s so rare! Okay, I’ve never cooked “live” eels at home, but I did some research and it looks like you can cook it at home. Let me know if a oven broiler works. In Japan we have special fish broiler under the stove, and I couldn’t find any recipe that use an oven for “live” eels.
Here’s directions for uncooked eel fillet:
1) Cut fillet into 3-4 inch pieces (easy to flip).
2) Cook (broil) skin side first. If the direct heat source is from top, skin side should face up.
3) When the skin gets crispy, flip.
4) When you see bubbles on the meat, brush the sauce on both sides of eels and continue to grill. Repeat a couple of times. It will easily burn, so stay around the oven.
Homemade Sauce recipe can be found here: http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/unagi-don-unadon/
So glad I found this recipe. I’ve been wanting to make eel at home for so long! It gets too expensive to eat at restaurants.
Hi Nami, is konbucha necessary? I’m not sure where I’ll be able to find it. Unagi is my favorite!
Hi Stephanie! I know konbucha can be really hard to find unless you have a Japanese supermarket near your home. This soup is based on dashi stock and konbucha flavor, so you will be missing half of the great flavor. As I can’t give you any substitution, I guess you will have to skip…. it’s so unfortunate!
Just in case if you want to get online:
http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-492-gyokuroen-konbu-cha-15oz.aspx
Hmm, I will try the Japanese supermarket first. If not, I will probably buy it offline from your link. Thanks so much for looking into this for me!!
I’ve never tasted eel before in my life, but it sure looks delicious. Will it tastes the same if I used other type of fish? and if so, then what type of fish you recommend?
Hi Muna! Unagi has unique texture and taste that is not similar to other fish. But if you really want to replace it, I’d suggest something like seabass or halibut type of white fish.
Hope this helps!
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