Healthified Japanese Comfort Food: Oyakodon (GF, Soy Free, Low-Carb Option)
We’re all craving our comfort foods right about now, and I think we’re all giving ourselves the permission to enjoy some guilty pleasures during this crazy and stressful time. For me that means cooking and eating A LOT of Japanese food, baking up a plethora of chocolate filled goodies, and balancing productive activities with a little bit of Netflix & Chill. How about you? What are you craving right now and what are you all up to at home?
There are definitely pros and cons to craving comfort foods while in quarantine…on one hand, it satisfies cravings and provides comfort during stressful times, and on the other hand, it’s comfort food so it’s not usually the healthiest. For me, I’m gluten-free and trying to reduce my soy intake, so ordering take out from local Japanese restaurants won’t really cut it for me. Kinda bummed about it, but also kinda not, because I’m having a lot of fun experimenting in the kitchen with comfort food recipes that fit my dietary needs. So I’ll definitely be posting a few more Japanese recipes, but I’m pretty sure I have some other comfort foods that I’ll want to make and share that are both sweet and savory.
One of my favorite Japanese comfort foods is a simple donburi (rice bowl) made with chicken and egg called Oyakodon. Traditionally, it consists of simmered chicken, onion, and egg in a dashi (bonito) based broth served over rice. The egg is perfectly silky and fluffy, and the rice soaks up all of the umami flavor from the leftover broth. I keep my version as true to the OG as possible, and really only switch up a few things to fit my gluten-free, reduced carb, and reduced soy needs. My only “complaint” about this dish is that it doesn’t really include any veggies, so I usually get my veggie fix in by subbing half of the rice for caulirice and adding some sort of green. When I recipe tested the Oyakodon for the blog, I made steamed broccoli and spinach gomae (spinach salad with sesame dressing) to add to the donburi.
Step One: Throw the mixed broth, chicken and onion into a room temp sauce pan and bring to a simmer over low-medium heat.
Step 2: Throw on lid and continue simmering on low for about 5 minutes or until every piece of chicken is white. Covering the dish when simmering is VERY necessary so as to not let the broth evaporate too much!
Step 3: Add lightly beaten egg to the pan and spread evenly throughout, throw the lid back on and simmer for 2 more minutes. Then pour entire contents of the pan over rice, top with whatever you’d like and enjoy!
As you can see, Oyakodon is truly a simple and quick meal to throw together. The only catch is finding the ingredients like bonito dashi and mirin, but if you have access to an Asian grocery store, you can easily pick up these ingredients. If not, I know for a fact you can get quality mirin at Thrive Market or at Whole Foods and Sprouts, and since I haven’t been able to find a decent bonito dashi online that isn’t crazy expensive, you can make your own shiitake dashi at home by simply soaking dry shiitake mushrooms with water. This dish is supposed to be all about ease and comfort, so while bonito dashi or shiitake dashi is the most ideal, regular bone broth, beef broth, or veggie broth can work too if you’re not in the mood to do extra shopping.
This is the cleanest one I could find, and generally not too bad compared to others. If you’re in SoCal, you can find it at Marukai + Tokyo Central.
It can be hard to find low-sodium, MSG and Gluten-Free dashi. The best way to guarantee a clean dashi, is to make your own, but I like to keep Oyakodon simple.
Healthified Okayodon:
This recipe serves one so if you’d like to make more, just double, triple, quadruple the recipe for however many people you’d like to serve. However, I do recommend cooking each serving separately since it can get tricky to separate and serve.
For serving:
1 1/2 cups your preference of prepared rice
Can do white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, or a mixture of them
I went for half cauliflower rice and half organic sprouted brown rice from Koda Farms (I sprouted the rice myself)
Vegetables of your Choice (I went with steamed broccoli and spinach gomae)
Chopped green onion (to your preference)
Ingredients:
1/4 white onion (thinly sliced)
1/2 chicken thigh (cut into bite-sized chunks)
1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 green onion (sliced)
Simmering Broth:
1/4 cup dashi broth OR if you don’t have dashi:
2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms steeped in 1/2 cup of hot water for 15 minutes
2 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sake
salt to taste
Directions:
Mix the dashi, coconut aminos, mirin, sake, and salt together in a small bowl
Place the seasoning broth in a small sauce pan, and add the sliced onion and chicken thigh.
Turn the burner on to medium-low heat and bring the mixture to a simmer
After about 2 minutes, cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until the chicken turns white
Uncover and pour the lightly beaten egg over the entire dish. Make sure the egg is spread evenly as possible throughout the pan.
Cover the pan back up and simmer on low for about 2 more minutes or until the egg is cooked to your desired firmness.
Turn off the heat and pour entire contents of the pan into your rice bowl, add vegetables, fresh green onions and enjoy!
