Savory Breakfasts and Steel Cut Oats
I’m not a sweet breakfast person, my usual refrain is stolen from Douglas Adams, “Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so” and this goes for breakfast time too. For some reason Americans are generally sweet breakfast eaters, and the idea of eating something not only savory but also spicy, is well, foreign to them.
Not me. I’ve been making steel cut oats for myself for these last many months, and I wanted to share one of my recipes - a simplified korean kimchi tofu stew for one person, made easy for breakfast.
Kimchi Jjigage Oats (makes one serving)
- 1/4 cup of steel cut oats
- one or two dried shiitake mushrooms
- a green onion
- 1 heaping tsp gohujang
- 1 teaspoon gochugaru (more if you like spicy)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (or more to taste)
- 1/4 cup kimchi brine
- .5 tsp msg
- 1/4 to half a cup of kimchi, cut up (use kitchen shears to cut it up in the pot. Hell, cut up everything for this with kitchen shears - I do, it makes life and cleanup so much easier.
- 2 cups water.
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- rinse and then oak the shiitake mushrooms in water
- put the kimchi, in the pot and snip it up to your liking with kitchen shears.
- Add the msg, kimchi brine, gochujang, gochugaru, and soy sauce to the pot
- snip the green onion into the pot - the whole thing if you like, or just the white and reserve the green to add at the end.
- The shiitake should be a little soft now so snip that in as well
- add two cups of water and turn on the stove. Bring to a boil while mixing so everything gets friendly
- Add the steel cut oats. (if you’re using regular oats that’s on you - not sure how this will come out.)
- Simmer until the oats are as soft as you’d like - I usually go about 20 minutes because I like the texture at that point. stir occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick.
- Remove from heat, add the sesame oil and stir
- Enjoy! Considering add ins, like some tofu cubes (which would traditionally be in this stew)

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