The savoury oatmeal

Oats and Oat groats

Who doesn't love an oatmeal porridge for breakfast? Especially one with fresh and or dried fruit and nuts, maybe a drizzle of honey, some seeds sprinkled here and there? Mmmmmm, right? Wrong!This kind of breakfast would make me heave. Why, you exclaim in surprise, this luscious mush will take

you straight to Health Heaven! 

No, thank you!

The reason? I am an ardent fan of Salt, of Sour, bring on the Bitter, gimme some Umami...but Sweet??? and especially for breakfast? BARF!

Alas and alack, I have been determined to try the wonders of regular oatmeal so the other day, I had an epiphany! How about savoury oats? I looked into it and my, oh my, oh my! It's like I have discovered the Holy Grail ( picture a smug look on my face). But hang on...let's start at the beginning..

You will find many different types of oats in the market. So what is the difference? The main difference is how processed they have been to reduce the cooking time. Gone are the days of our grannies when an hour cooking porridge would be nothing. 

Different types of oats

Oat groats (main photo of this post):This is the real stuff, with only the inedible hull removed. Cooking time: 50-60 minutes.

Steel cut oats: Also known as Irish or pinhead oats, are groats that have been cut into smaller pieces to speed up cooking. Cooking time:10-20 minutes.

Scottish oatmeal: These are your standard groats which have been stone ground. Cooking time: 10 minutes.

Old fashioned rolled oats: Groats that have been steamed and then pressed flat. Cooking time: 5 minutes.

Quick oats: like old-fashioned oats, except rolled thinner and steamed longer. Cooking time: 1 minute.

Instant oats: Like quick oats, except rolled even thinner and steamed even longer. Cooking time: 1 minute.  (This is the only product of the others that is usually processed in an additional way as sugar/colourants vitamins etc are added.)

And now for the fun bit: Savoury Oats. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmmmmalicious!

Boiled egg and chicken stock

I tend to use either old fashioned or quick oats.

To make savoury oatmeal, you basically need:

1. A base sauté (onions/ginger/garlic/tomatoe) This is dispensable if you are feeling lazy or don't have time. Or imagination.

2. Seasoning/Tamari/soya sauce...

3. A liquid: water/stock/miso/or whatever liquid you fancy to cook the oats in.

4. A topping: chicken /egg (fried, boiled,omelette)/ ham/ tofu/ quorn/ avocado....

Tomatoe base and ham

This is what I do for myself:

I fry a teaspoon of cumin/mustard seeds and once they start to pop,

I add some finely chopped onions and ginger.

Once these are translucent, I add the oats ( about 45 grams) and

1 cup of liquid. If you don't have broth, you could add half a soup cube or some bouillon but believe me, there is nothing like stock to make your brekkie mush heavenly.

Add salt/tamari/soya sauce if you used stock but not if you used a soup cube or miso, as these happen to be salty. 

Let the oats absorb the liquid.

When your oatmeal has the consistency you want, pour into a bowl. About 3 mins.

Chop some topping of your choice and throw on top. Add some fresh herbs if you like. And why not, some toasted sesame or sunflower seeds. Or nuts

Oh, and....some chillis or chilli flakes?

Enjoy!

Here is another idea for your breakfast: Oats with spirulina and topped with sautéed tofu and sesame seeds.

Spirulina and tofu

So, what topping do you use?