Donburi (丼, lit. "bowl", less commonly spelled "domburi") is a Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are served in oversized rice bowls also called donburi. The ingredients are often set at the last minute with egg. Donburi are sometimes called sweetened or savory stews on rice.
The simmering sauce varies according to season, ingredient, region, and taste. A typical sauce might consist of dashi flavored with shoyu and mirin. Proportions vary, but there is normally three to four times as much dashi as shoyu and mirin. For oyakodon, Tsuji (1980) recommends dashi flavored with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. For gyudon, Tsuji recommends water flavored with dark soy sauce and mirin.
Donburi can be made from almost any ingredients,however, including left-overs. Inexpensive Chinese restaurants in Japan often serve chukadon (中華丼) or gomoku-chukadon (五目中華丼) —stir-fried assorted vegetables with some meat over rice in a big bowl. Not traditionally Japanese or Chinese, the hybrid dish indicates the popularity of donburi in Japan.