Okay, y'all, I've just died and gone to Breakfast Heaven.
Never being a huge rice person, I've always been a bit hesitant when it came to rice pudding, rice porridge, and other dishes of that persuasion and consistency. Sure, a few times in the winter I'll enjoy some good homemade risotto, but otherwise, most of the rice in the house is saved for my carb-adoring husband.
So last night we tried our hands for the first time at making onigirazu (sushi sandwiches) last night - which were quite tasty but quite unphotographable since it was our first time (but hey, not wanting to buy the plastic clamshell-wrapped versions at my local market's deli, as well as ensuring better quality ingredients, we always try to learn to make our favorites...and it ends up saving $$ and tasting better to boot! ). But with the recipe we used, it left us with almost two cups of leftover homemade sushi rice...so I needed to think fast on how to use it (again, we do what we can to avoid plastic, so toxic 'saran wrap' made from petroleum is not something we buy.
And with that, I remembered a recipe I'd pinned a while back for Japanese breakfast porridge, AKA Okayu, made from leftover sushi rice...and I was all over it for my meal this morning! Because I'd been spending an obscene amount of time stalking the aisles of Uwajimaya trying to memorize the approximately 18 million kinds of sauces & toppings (Um yeah, please don't ask what happened to the 4 years of Japanese I took from 8th-11th grade! All I can do now is order sushi, greet someone, or obey an order to sit down or run.), I've created an all new condiments section in our house. For my Australian husband who was blown away by the American obsession with condiments, this took it to the next level for him, hahaha...but once the man tried bonito flakes, his life changed I tell ya!
Anyhow, this recipe was SO easy and after a bit of trepidation as an American gal eating rice for brekkie, I got over myself, took a big bite, and sighed the happiest foodie sigh EVER. It's rich, it's comforting, it's almost cheesy? I can't explain and I am not a fan of the massive overuse of the term 'umami' so I'll just say it was hella good.
Here were my substitutes:
I used the leftover sushi rice from the aforementioned sushi sammies, and in that recipe, subbed maple syrup for white sugar. Also, as I was out of rice vinegar, I combined mirin and our homemade pear cider vinegar. Both worked like a charm. Maybe even better than the original I dare say...?
I subbed one duck egg for two regular eggs. The richness of duck eggs made it more beautiful than any storebought chicken egg and so only one was needed.
No sake on hand so doubled the mirin.
Only a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon of soy sauce. Even with low sodium tamari, I still find it all too salty for my taste buds, so I always moderate this and put the bottle on the table for my oh-so-salty husband.
Subbed part of a leftover nori sheet from last night for the kizami - minced it up and it was just fine!
I used the dashi granules to make a 2 minute stock (amen for inductions that boil within seconds) instead of homemade, but am definitely planning on making my own dashi stock in the future as the little packets are uber wasteful that I picked up the other day!
There ya go. Something about it is pure magic. I don't ask, I just eat.
PS - I use MyFitnessPal daily to track my calories (23 lbs lost so far) and this recipe with my subs made it 386 calories for one serving - not bad at all!