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You are here: Home / barley / Alex’s Breakfast Oap-en-meal (Oatmeal)

Alex’s Breakfast Oap-en-meal (Oatmeal)

July 29, 2009 By Laura 14 Comments

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This “recipe” has been quite the source of consternation for me. On the one hand, I want to share this recipe/method with the world. Yes it may seem obvious, yes many of you may already know how to do it, but I only just figured it out and I consider myself a decently experienced cook. So some of you may not too. But I just could not figure out how to photograph it.

Anyway, the background: I have never enjoyed oatmeal much because I just find it way too mushy/soft/wet, even when made with old fashioned rolled oats. A year and a half ago, I experimented with making a mixed grain oatmeal in my rice cooker (I would leave it out dry and John would start it before leaving in the morning so we would wake up to oatmeal), and we loved it. Full of chewy pearl barley, sweet black rice and wheat berries (in addition to the oats), it was a decidedly not mushy healthy breakfast. Alex especially loved it.

Then our rice cooker broke. Every now and then she would see it sitting on the ground and walk by quite sadly, pointing at it and saying “No more oap-en-meal?” (she was 2 at the time). Sigh. No more oap-en-meal. Whenever I tried to make it in advance, it dried out. When I tried to make it in the slow cooker, it became a glutinous mass. Given some of the grains involved, making from scratch each morning was not an option. I finally gave up.


Recently I acquired Mollie Katzen’s The Sunlight Cafe, a cookbook focusing on ways to get a more nutritious, filling breakfast into our bodies. Something I have been concerned about as preschool looms and the end of our late mornings approaches. Meaning breakfasts need to be bigger, more sustaining. She suggests cooking the grains separately and re-heating them, which gave me an idea… So this past Sunday I decided to cook the following grains separately:

*steel cut oats (which I had never tried before and which were delightfully chewy)
*whole grain teff seeds
*pearl barley
*sweet black sticky rice

I added some brown sugar and vanilla to the oats while they were hot, and then mixed all of the grains together. The next morning, I made old fashioned rolled oats oatmeal–which according Katzen would take 5 minutes to cook (for some reason I had always thought longer). I made the oats in milk (the rest of the grains were made in water), and when they were a minute or 2 from being done, I added several large spoonfuls of the much drier and chewier whole grain mix from the previous day. This allowed the grains to soften and warm up without drying out. It was fabulous! Such a simple, but morning-altering discovery! Drizzled with some maple syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon, this breakfast will definitely make the regular rotation. Below are the cooking times and ratios for the grains that I used, but I am sure we will try others in the future.


Whole Grain Teff Seeds

This was not so chewy and turned into a glue that held everything together. Plus I just love the flavor of teff. Use ratio of 1/2 cup seeds to 1 1/2 cups water and cook for 20 minutes or so on a simmer, until soft.

Sweet Black Rice

Cook 1/2 cup of rice in 1 cup of water and drain off excess water when done. Will cook for about 35-45 minutes, until tender but chewy–will have a pleasant pop to it. And will be gloriously purple/black.

Pearl Barley

I was so happy with the others that I might leave this one out next time; in the past I had thought it necessary for chewiness. Use 1/2 cup of the barley to 1 1/4 cups of water and simmer for 70-90 minutes, until tender but chewy.

Steel Cut Oats

Use 1/2 cup of the oats to 1 3/4 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil and slowly drop the oats into the water so that it does not stop boiling. Boil for 10-15 minutes, until done to desired tenderness. This will be the wettest grain, so add the others into it and mix.


The Final Dish
Inspired by Mollie Katzen

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup whole milk
1/2 t salt
brown sugar to taste
maple syrup to taste
2 t vanilla
2 t oat bran
2 t wheat germ
cinnamon to taste
Several scoops of previous grain mix

Bring the oats and milk to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the salt, brown sugar (start with less), vanilla, a pinch of cinnamon, the oat bran and the wheat germ. Stir and simmer another minute or 2. Add the previous day’s whole grain mix and stir, breaking up the clumps of the whole grains. When it is smooth and heated through, taste for sweetness and cinnamon, accounting for serving with a drizzle of maple syrup and sprinkling of cinnamon.

Filed Under: barley, breakfast, oats, rice

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Comments

  1. Kristina says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:38 am

    This looks great. Steel coat oats are one of my favorite winter breakfasts.

    Reply
  2. noble pig says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:44 am

    Ummm, yum. I think oatmeal is one of my favorite foods on the planet.

    Reply
  3. Tangled Noodle says

    July 29, 2009 at 11:02 am

    I eat oatmeal for lunch at least thrice a week, I love it so much! Your 'oap-en-meal' sounds wonderful and definitely something I would love to try. But could you tell me how you made it in the rice cooker? An all-in-one shot would be so convenient!

    And despite your misgivings about photographing it, it is totally appetizing to me!

    Reply
  4. That Girl says

    July 29, 2009 at 11:54 am

    I like oatmeal of all kinds and I'm actually more interested in the ingredients than the method – it sounds SO good!

    Reply
  5. Laura says

    July 29, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Tangled Noodle: It all started with this bag of mixed grains. It is apparently frequently quite expensive, but I picked it for not much at a local Asian store without thinking much of it. It is red rice, black rice, maybe white rice, wheat berries, pearl barley and goodness knows what else (it was an 8 grain mix I think). However all of the instructions were in Chinese! Ooops. Anyway I added rolled oats to that and then kind of guesstimated how much water based on all of the different grains involved. I would mix all of the dry stuff, add a cinnmon stick, and leave it in the rice cooker. Then I would leave my husband a note with amount of water, he would add it and hit start–I forget which setting we used. When Alex and I woke up we would add sweetener and some vanilla, and a drizzle of cream or whole milk.

    The rice cooker has been gone for a while; ironically I have decided I actually prefer my stovetop methods for basmati and jasmine rices, our 2 most consumed rices, and it is only the oatmeal that makes me sad. Although not anymore–I LOVE this new method.

    Sorry I could not be more specific. One of the great things about blogging is that I actually notice what I do and can tell people better now. Back then I was hopeless.

    Reply
  6. Tangled Noodle says

    July 29, 2009 at 1:59 pm

    Thank you, Laura! I think I know what bag of mixed grain you're talking about – I've been curious about them but didn't realize that's what it was. 😎 I'm all for experimenting so this gives me a great start.

    And what a coincidence – I stopped using my rice cooker (it still works!) because it's too big for just 2 people. So I cook on the stovetop – basmati and jasmine, depending on what we're eating. 8-D

    Yay for blogging – it's made so many of us more aware of how we cook (and take pictures!)

    Reply
  7. Amy says

    July 29, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    I am definitely going to try the rice cooker method! Perhaps the other way too, but certainly the easy way first. Sounds AWESOME, and everybody in this house loves oatmeal. (FYI, we usually buy the Scottish kind, not sure if that is steel cut or something else but it is way better than the old-fashioned rolled kind.)

    Reply
  8. Millionaire says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    i hate oats but i think this combination will make the oats taste better! thank u!

    Reply
  9. Laura says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    Amy: it is steel cut and you are so right, although I never knew that until this week.

    Reply
  10. Simran says

    July 29, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    What an idea! I am not an oats fan because I find them too mushy, so this is just so perfect.

    Reply
  11. HoneyB says

    July 30, 2009 at 5:05 am

    Laura, I remember my mother making steel cut oats and I loved them with honey!

    Don't you just love the way kids pronounce certain foods?

    Reply
  12. Grace says

    July 30, 2009 at 8:54 am

    aha! i hoped that would be cinnamon sprinkled atop your creation, and i’m so glad it is. cinnamon rules.

    Reply
  13. Leslie says

    July 30, 2009 at 9:12 am

    I don't like mushy oatmeal either. Steel cut oats are the way to go. That oatmeal looks delicious 🙂

    Reply
  14. Elizabeth says

    August 28, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    Is your recipe for doing those grains in the slow cooker on your website somewhere? I haven’t been able to locate it but would love to try it.

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

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