Genmaicha (brown rice tea)

Today's breakfast: cold soba noodles and genmaicha or brown rice teaIf you’ve eaten at Jipan and tried their house tea, you might have noticed that it is a bit different from house teas in other Chinese and Japanese restaurants. It is pale gold and has this distinct nutty flavor. Speedy and I would scour supermarkets and oriental stores for something similar and after experimenting with several boxes of tea, we finally discovered what it was — genmaicha or brown rice tea.

Korean japchae, spicy stir-fried noodles

Stir fried noodles for breakfast… let’s talk about rice noodles, the most common noodles used in Asian cooking. There seems to be a disagreement about the nutritional value of rice noodles. Some say it has little nutritional value, is mostly starch with little dietary fiber, and mung bean noodles or vermicelli, sotanghon as we call it and the kind used in Korean japchae, is not much better.

Another site, however, practically declares rice noodles as the ultimate health food because it contains zero saturated fats, zero cholesterol and zero sugar.

If there is one thing that most people agree on, however, it’s the fact that rice noodles are gluten-free

Noodle soup, not instant

Noodle soup for breakfastMy family went through the instant noodles craze too but the last time we bought instant noodles was when typhoon Milenyo hit the country almost two years ago, and we only bought them because power was down for days, we were waterless and cooking was a headache. For over two years (or is it three?), when we crave for lo mein or noodle soup (with pork, chicken or beef), I cook the real thing with real meat, fresh vegetables and home-made broth. Like I did for breakfast this morning.