miso oatmeal

I wanted oatmeal for breakfast, but I also wanted miso soup - to me the obvious solution was to combine the two, and I've been eating it for breakfast whenever I can.

I use things you would traditionally find in oatmeal, such as apple and cinnamon and some sweetener. I use things you would traditionally find in miso soup, such as shiitake and seaweed and soy. Curiously, all these varied ingredients get along.

There are so many useful nutrients in this concoction it got me thinking about an old sci-fi staple: the food pill. All your nutritional needs, in one easy to ingest package. What else could I add to my concoction to make it even more nutritious?

I've been tinkering with this for several years now; here's a very rough outline of ingredients and procedure:

A wide but shallow pan on the stove, add some oil, set to the lowest temperature.

To this add several spices, salt, and chopped vegetables. Stir for a few minutes.

A portion of oatmeal is added and mixed in, a few more minutes of stirring.

Various flavorful liquids are added and mixed.

Some time passes, the ingredients come together.

Finally, the miso is added near the end, and the dish is ready to serve.

Easy, tasty, filling, nutritious, but not so simple - various steps and ingredients will be covered in future posts.

[ text above written 2011.07.06; pictures below from 2011.09 ]

oil

salt, turmeric, cinnamon, cocoa, paprika, cayenne

oatmeal, apple, ginger, lemon grass, scallion, garlic, jalapeno, habanero, thai chili

soak some dried mushrooms for tomorrow; today, use the mushrooms (and water) that you started soaking yesterday

save vegetable scraps (from above) and make vegetable stock

seaweed

red pepper crushed, black pepper, red pepper powder

tahini, almond butter, molasses, maple syrup

mirin, soy sauce, tamari, rice vinegar

almond, walnut, cashew, peanut

miso, soy milk

garnish with scallion; serve