A delicious, savoury spin on your typical breakfast oats. Comforting, warm oats topped with a jammy egg, garlicky vegetables and a good drizzle of sesame and soy to bring it all together!
Savoury oats over sweet oats, any day. I know it’s a bit of a strange concept to some people… putting something like a soft boiled egg or mushrooms atop a bowl of oats, but to me it’s so delicious and so comforting. It reminds me a little of congee (a Chinese rice porridge dish with various toppings), but with a base of rolled oats rather than rice.
This is a dish I like to make myself on my days off, when I’ve got a bit more time up my sleeve and want to treat myself to something other than a toastie or bacon and egg english muffin at my desk. As cheesy as this sounds, this dish truly feels so nourishing to me for both my body and my soul. A true comfort meal.
And while it takes a bit more prep than your usual bowl of porridge, once you’ve made it a couple of times, it becomes a pretty seamless process once you learn what steps you can do simultaneously to save yourself some time. I do share some hints with you below which will help you bring this together as easily as possible!
RECIPE HINTS
- Pre-soaking your oats: The recipe calls for the rolled oats to be soaked before cooking. It’s not a long process though. The rolled oats get soaked in the same water they get cooked in, and it doesn’t even take any additional time. You just let soak while you prep other ingredients. Is it absolutely essential? No. But should you do it? Absolutely. I find it gives the cooked oats such a softer, creamier texture.
- Things you can do at the same time: As noted above, you can soak your oats while you boil your egg and chop your vegetables. Once your egg has cooked, take the pot off the stove, pour out the hot water, add some cold water. After 10-15 seconds, the egg should be cool enough to pick out, and set aside. You can then re-use the same pot to make your oats. Then while your oats are simmering away on the stove, this is when you can quickly cook your mushrooms and greens at the same time. (I know this sounds a bit complicated, but I promise you it will become an easy rhythm once you get the hang of it).
- Don’t like eggs? Feel free to leave out or swap out for any cooked protein you prefer – crispy tofu or shredded chicken would be delicious on this!
- Don’t like mushrooms or Asian greens? Feel free to sub with any vegetables that are quick to pan fry. I’ve trued so many different vegetables in this – broccoli, thinly sliced carrots or cabbage, leftover miso eggplant, spinach, green beans, snowpeas… it all works!
You can also check out the video of me cooking up these savoury oats on my instagram page, direct link to the post below!
I hope you enjoy!
Laura x
Savoury Oats
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 and 1/2 cups water
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 100 g mushrooms*
- 1 cup green, leafy vegetables**
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- optional garnishes: chopped spring onion and chilli oil
Instructions
- Place oats in a bowl and add the 1 and a half cups of water to pre-soak.
- Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove
- Add egg to the pot of boiling water and cook for 7 minutes for a soft, jammy yolk. Ensure to tip hot water out of pot when done and add cold water to the pot to stop cooking process when done. Set egg aside once cooled and set pot aside to use again.
- While the egg is cooking, prepare the vegetables: mince the garlic cloves and slice the mushrooms and greens.
- Pour the oats and oat soaking water into the pot. Bring to the boil and then turn down heat and gently simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally until oats are cooked.
- While oats are cooking, heat a seperate pan and add olive oil to the pan.
- Add garlic, mushrooms and greens to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add 1 tsp of the soy sauce to the vegetable and stir through.
- Assemble the bowl: pour oats into the bowl first, add the stir fried vegetables, the peeled boiled egg and drizzle over sesame oil, remaining soy sauce and top with garnishes.