{Recipe} No cook breakfast: Apple and cinnamon muesli

A repost from my old blog horrendezvous.blogspot.com

How many times have you stumbled out of bed wishing you had already had something ready for breakfast instead of having to put on a frying pan and crack those eggs? Well, that happens to me pretty much every morning so I tend to skip it even though my mum keeps drumming it into me that ‘breakfast is the most freaking important meal of the day!’. Ok, she didn’t really say it that way. So when I stumbled upon this post by Fat Mum Slim, I made it (a variation of it anyway) right away. The beauty of this recipe is that you can have whatever variations you crave.

Apple and cinnamon muesli (serves 1)

Ingredients

½ cup traditional oats (not quick)
½ cup milk (I used whole as I love the creaminess; skim is fine too)
2 tbsp vanilla yogurt (go on sneak a couple of spoons more)
½ apple, coarsely chopped (eat the rest :P)
Honey for drizzling (optional)
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling (optional)

1. Shake oats, milk and yogurt up in an airtight container and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. Good morning! Drizzle the honey and sprinkle the cinnamon on, grab a spoon and enjoy!

Tips and variations: 

• This recipe can be easily multiplied and for breakfast on-the-go, simply put in separate containers.
• Substitute apple with a handful of blueberries/strawberries and top with more.
• Substitute apple with a handful of dried cranberries and milk with cranberry juice (great body cleanser).
• Substitute vanilla yogurt with plain/or any kind really.
• If you use a yogurt with fruity bits, you can skip fresh fruit altogether.

The Big Kahuna is a chronic snacker and he says when he has this for breakfast, he does not think of snacks at all, gets him straight to lunch. So do have a try.

Ta ra~

{Recipe} Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles)

A repost from my old blog horrendezvous.blogspot.com

Annyeong! How many times have you sat down and watch K-dramas (especially rom coms) and thought to yourself, man how good do they make food look?? The way they eat their noodles *slurp* and the spread they put out for breakfast... That happens to me and the Big Kahuna every single time and so I have been dabbling in Korean cuisine, sort of, lately. I have made jjajangmyun countless times now, experimenting with different ingredients and brands of black bean sauce :D

This dish originated from China and so is considered a Chinese dish enjoyed by many Koreans. I have tried the instant noodles version. Alas, not to my liking lol.

The recipes I found mostly use pork belly for the protein and since we are not pork eaters, this recipe has been altered in that sense and in many other ways to suit our taste. So this might not appeal to most people, least of all actual Koreans! Sorry! But jjajangmyun is so tasty that it would be awesome if people who find pork or even meat a deterrent to try making it at least once! :) If you're vego, just leave out the meat and it would still be super delicious, trust me ;)

Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles) Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 onion (diced)
A quarter of a cabbage (roughly chopped, about 2 cups; optional, can be substituted with 1 diced radish)
2 carrots (chopped; optional)
2 potatoes or 1 sweet potato (diced)
1 zucchini (diced)
1 chicken breast (diced; optional)
2-3 cups water
1/4 cup black bean paste
Sugar to taste
2 tbsp potato starch or cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
White wheat flour noodles, follow instructions on packet
Half a cucumber (julienned, for garnish)
Kimchi (accompaniment; optional)
Sesame oil (optional)

Cabbage, potatoes, onion, carrots and zucchini

Diced carrots, onions and zucchini

Chopped cabbage

Diced potatoes

Diced chicken breast

The black bean paste I used this time (I always like to try different brands to find the best-tasting ones; this one was nice)

Noodles I used

Cornflour mixed with water

1. Heat oil in a wok or a big saucepan with a lid.
2. Sautee onion and carrots.

Sauteeing carrots and onion

3. When onion is transluscent, add cabbage, potatoes and zucchini.

Sauteeing the rest of the veggies

4. After a few minutes, add chicken and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

More sauteeing, with chicken

5. Add water until just covered and place the lid on. Let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Remember to stir every once in a while to make sure that the potatoes don't stick to the bottom.

Water added

Chuck the lid on

6. Remember to cook the noodles in the meantime!

Cooking noodles in boiling water

7. Add black bean paste and sugar. Add more of either if you'd like it saltier/sweeter. You can heat up some oil in a small saucepan and fry the black bean paste before putting it into the mixture but it is not necessary.

Frying the bean paste

8. Add potato starch or cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce bit by bit. You might not use it all or you might have to add more. You'd want a very thick sauce that when you mix it with the noodles, it'd make this squishing noise lol.

Sauce which still needed thickening

9. Place noodles in a flat bowl/plate, heap a serving of black bean sauce on top and garnish with cucumber and a dash of sesame oil. Enjoy with or without kimchi. Mashittda!

Voila! Jjajangmyun with a side of cheat kimchi (recipe to come)

Notes and tips:

This is not traditional but I usually blend all the vegetables together and this gives the sauce a thickness (possibly the starchiness from the potatoes), I do this when I can be bothered :P Since the sauce is already thick, I would add very little water and sometimes I don't even need to add cornflour/potato starch mixture.

One happy customer!

If you find you have too much cabbage cut up, don't panic, you can make kimchi using a very easy recipe which will be put up very soon.

The beauty about this dish is that if you do not have certain vegetables, you can either substitute or omit. I would keep at least three different vegetables in.

Since I cook for two, we usually have heaps of leftover sauce. You can chuck it in the fridge if you're lazy to cook the next day or in the freezer to have over the months.

Happy cooking! Ta ra~