Oatmeal with Water

Quick oats cooked with boiling water in a microwave, topped with jammy cinnamon apples, yoghurt and muesli. No country is claimed, though the contributor is South African. Water rather than milk is the premise, and it is worth understanding what that trades. Oats cooked in water are cleaner and lighter, and the oat flavour comes through more clearly; oats cooked in milk are creamier and richer. Neither is better. What the recipe does is compensate for the leanness at the end rather than during cooking, a dollop of double cream Greek yoghurt goes on top, so the richness arrives as a distinct layer rather than being cooked in. The apples are the useful idea. Chopped apple with cinnamon and a spoonful of apricot jam, microwaved for two or three minutes, collapses into something between a compote and a jam, and takes almost no effort. It does more for a bowl of plain oats than any amount of stirring. Salt is not optional. A pinch in the oats is what stops them tasting flat, and it is the most commonly skipped ingredient in any porridge. The source's ingredient list is scrambled, its section headings were absorbed into it, shifting every quantity that followed onto the wrong item. Rebuilt from the method.