Apple and Ginger Oatmeal

Apple and Ginger Oatmeal – another vegan breakfast

My favourite flavour for breakfast is heat, as in spice.  I often jump on last night’s left-overs, but sometimes I want spice and sweet. 

That’s when I remember what ginger does.  This oatmeal porridge recipe is spicy hot, somewhat sweet, vegan, healthy and delicious. 

This recipe is similar to the ginger and peach oatmeal breakfast I wrote about ages ago, but apples are easier to come by at this time of year, and somehow feel more typical of a winter morning's breakfast to me.

Amounts are per person, so double, triple or millionify, if you must:

¼ cup whole grained, unprocessed oats
1 cup water
10 scrapes of fresh ginger (use a potato peeler), chopped
1 small apple, cored and diced
pinch cinnamon
pinch of ground green cardamom (optional)
7 walnuts
1 tablespoon dessicated coconut
1 teaspoon powdered or scraped jaggery (unrefined date palm sugar)

Be sure to chop the ginger into small pieces so that it cooks quickly, and sends its heat throughout the oatmeal. 

Also you don’t want to be munching large chunks of it, because it can taste a little funky when you’ve got a whole mouthful of the stuff.

And for heaven’s sakes, don’t peel those innocent apples.  The skin imparts a rosy glow to your breakfast, it adds to your daily roughage, and many of the vitamins and minerals are snug up underneath it.  Peeling is unnecessary and even harmful in the long run!

Put the oats in a sauce pan with water, ginger and apple and turn heat to high.  Boil for about five minutes, till the apples are somewhat softened, stirring occasionally.  I like my oatmeal grainy, not smooth, so I cook for very little time. 

Spoon into serving bowls, and top with walnuts, coconut and jaggery.  There was a time when I believed milk was needed for porridge, but I don’t miss it at all when all these other flavours and textures delight the tastebuds. 

This double hot breakfast, spicy hot and temperature hot, along with the stick-to-your-ribs additions of walnuts and coconut ensures that you will be sufficiently prepared for the frosty morning that awaits you.