Happy New Year! This is a friendly reminder that it is still winter time, so now is still a great time to eat warm foods for breakfast. So let’s kick off 2021 with a breakfast recipe!
Cold mornings call for warm breakfast, not smoothies or ice cold drinks. In Chinese medicine, the body’s digestive organs are like a furnace, in that optimal functioning happens when the internal organs are warm. Chinese medicine also emphasizes eating in tune with the seasons. Winter weather is cold (even here in San Diego!) so it’s important to eat warm and cooked foods and hot drinks.
Raw foods and cold foods and drinks like smoothies, ice cold drinks and cold cereal are energetically cold. They can be harder for the body to digest due to the cold temperature, and over time can lead to issues like indigestion, bloating, gas, menstrual cramps and pain, and/or fatigue and feeling tired after eating a meal. So, if you’re having these symptoms, or find yourself wanting something warm for breakfast when it’s cold outside, consider switching to warm and cooked foods, and hot or room temperature drinks.
It’s also about this time in the winter that I get a little tired of my go to breakfast foods, which is usually toast with nut butter or oatmeal with fruit. So when I was introduced to savory oatmeal, it was a total game changer. Savory oatmeal opens up a whole world of topping options and is a nice break from sweet breakfast.
This dish is a great combo of:
Hearty comforting oatmeal
Rich umami miso and mushrooms
Slightly bitter greens
Fried egg with yummy runny egg yolk
Quick and easy to make
Very customizable
Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner
Also, shout out to Coach’s Oats as my favorite type of oatmeal. I’ve eaten Coach’s Oats for years now and really like it. It has a hearty steel cut texture that I prefer to rolled oats (which taste kind of soggy and pasty to me once it’s cooked). This oatmeal has more of a whole grain nutty taste, and it comes in a huge bag at Costco too!
Ingredients
Serves 1
⅓ cup Coach’s Oats (for old fashioned or rolled oats, use ½ cup oats)
1 cup water
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 large handful of beet greens or other dark leafy greens, chopped
6-8 mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped (about 1 teaspoon)
1-2 teaspoons miso paste
1 egg
Optional toppings: soy sauce, lemon juice, sesame oil, chili oil or hot sauce, scallions
Directions
Cook oatmeal according to package instructions. When cooked through, transfer oatmeal to a serving bowl and drizzle a little sesame oil on top and stir to combine to keep the oatmeal moist.
Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add greens, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir frequently to avoid burning and cook down until the greens are wilted, but still have some vibrant green color, about 3-4 minutes. The greens will shrink a lot in volume, so don’t be afraid to start out with a lot. Transfer cooked greens to a separate bowl and return the pan to the stove on medium high heat.
Add about 1 more tablespoon olive oil and then add the mushrooms and garlic to the pan. Saute mushrooms for about 5-7 minutes, until soft, and season with salt and pepper to taste. If it seems like the mushrooms are getting too dry and burning, add a splash of water to help steam them. Once mushrooms are soft, add the miso paste and stir to combine. Transfer cooked mushrooms to a separate bowl and return the pan to the stove.
Turn the heat down to medium and add about 1 teaspoon olive oil to the pan. Crack the egg into the pan and fry the egg until the whites are cooked through and the yolk is still runny.
For plating, top the bowl of oatmeal with the beet greens, miso mushrooms, egg, and a drizzle of soy sauce and hot sauce of choice. Serve hot and enjoy!
Substitutions / Alterations
I used beet greens because that’s what I had in my fridge, but any type of dark leafy green will taste great – kale, spinach, arugula, collard greens, and more.
Any type of mushroom would taste good – button, cremini, shiitake, chopped portobello, and more.
Cook the egg however you like – fried, soft boiled, scrambled, or poached all work well.