A soft-boiled egg, marinated in a dashi-soy sauce sharpened with just a touch of sesame oil — cold, jammy, and deeply savory over warm rice. In Japan this is a Sunday task that pays off all week.
Makes 4 · 15 minutes active + 6 hours to overnight in the fridge
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, as fresh as you can find
- 3 Tbsp shiro-dashi (a seasoned dashi concentrate) or dashi
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
How to make it
- In a bowl or resealable bag, stir together the shiro-dashi (or dashi), soy sauce, water, and sesame oil.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Lower the cold eggs in gently with a ladle or spoon, and cook 6½–7 minutes over medium heat for a jammy, not-runny yolk. (A splash of vinegar and a pinch of salt in the boiling water can make peeling easier, if you'd like.)
- Transfer immediately to ice water and chill until completely cold — this stops the cooking and matters for food safety, not just texture.
- Peel the eggs under running water rather than with dry fingers, then pat them dry.
- Add the eggs to the marinade, press out any air if using a bag, and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.
- To serve, lift the eggs out with clean chopsticks or a spoon rather than your fingers. Eat within 2–3 days, and don't reuse the marinade for a second batch — spoon any extra over the eggs instead, or use it once as a sauce.
Tip
This egg stays soft in the center, the way it's traditionally served in Japan — which means it isn't fully cooked. If you're pregnant, elderly, very young, or immunocompromised, USDA guidance is to cook eggs all the way through; boil these a few minutes longer instead, until the yolk is fully set.
If you'd like to add a little rice vinegar — a common way to help keep the marinade cleaner while it sits — bring the marinade to a full boil first, then cool it completely, over ice or in the fridge, before it ever touches the eggs. A lukewarm marinade can gently continue cooking the egg and let bacteria grow, so it needs to go in fully cold.
Part of The Sunday Batch — small things made ahead, for easier weekday mornings.
