How to cure a hangover: What to eat in the morning on Boxing Day

MOB’s halloumi breakfast bap: the right amount of salt, spice, fried egg and butter (MOB Kitchen)

What’s that pulsating feeling behind your eyes? That alien scratching at the inside of your skull? That tannic dryness and faint metallic taste coating the inside of your mouth? Oh yes, that’s a hangover.

Many might be waking up this morning feeling less than great after all that buck’s fizz and mulled wine. Hangovers await pretty much anyone that drinks alcohol, and they’re going to come in fairly quick succession.

I think it’s probably best that you attempt to pre-empt those terrible headache pangs and inevitable, excruciating hangovers by cooking up some of MOB Kitchen’s best hangover-friendly recipes.

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These are the dishes that’ll make you feel like a million dollars after a big night. And, failing that, they’re the dishes that will, at the very least, stop your head from feeling like it’s going to shatter into a million pieces. Yes, not only will these bad boys soak up any leftover alcohol in your system but they’re a doddle to make and are the ideal meals to whip up when you’ve got Radio 6 on the lowest possible volume and you’re trying very, very hard not to be sick. Bon appetit!

Halloumi breakfast bap

One of your new favourite morning-after recipes (MOB Kitchen)

What’s the one thing you want in the morning when you wake up with a terrible hangover? To die. Well, yes. But what’s the second thing you want? That’s right: salt. This halloumi breakfast bap is one of our favourite morning-after recipes on the MOB Kitchen website. Not only does it have the requisite amount of spice thanks to a combo of chilli jam and chipotle paste but it also contains that classic hangover-fixer-upper combo of fried eggs and butter. You won’t even think about ordering a McDonald’s breakfast ever again after you’ve mastered this dish and added it to your arsenal. This recipe serves four but you can easily halve it if you don’t have as many mates.

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Ingredients

Bunch of chives

5tbsp mayo

1 heaped tsp chilli jam

1 heaped tsp chipotle paste

2 blocks of halloumi

8 eggs

4 brioche buns

Large knob of butter

Method

1. Finely chop the chives and set aside.

2. Prepare the burger sauce. Add the mayo, chilli jam and chipotle paste into a bowl and stir together.

3. Slice the halloumi into even chunks and add into a bowl along with a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss together.

4. Heat a glug of oil in a pan and fry the halloumi until golden brown. This will take a few minutes each side.

5. Get a bowl and crack in your eggs. Add in a generous pinch of pepper and whisk it up.

6. Melt a big knob of butter in a pan. Once melted, add in your eggy mixture. Keep stirring as it begins to scramble. You want to make sure the eggs stay nice and liquidy. Whack in the chives (saving some for garnish) and a pinch of salt, then mix together and remove from the heat.

7. Slice your buns in half and lightly toast them.

8. Time to load up. Start with a big dollop of your chilli mayo sauce, followed by 3 slices of your halloumi and finally a spoonful of your scrambled egg. Scatter over your leftover chives, season well and tuck in!

Bacony packet noodles

These bacony noodles are not only flavourful, they make you feel like your adulting (MOB Kitchen)

There’s something about having instant noodles for dinner that just feels… right. After the year we’ve all been through, channelling back into that childhood nostalgia can be a real salve when you’re feeling overwhelmed and pushed for time. Or just really, really viscerally hungover. Although this recipe for bacony packet noodles takes a tad more effort than tossing a flavour sachet into your dehydrated ramen, creating your own sauce from scratch out of peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chilli oil is super simple and incredibly satisfying. At the very least it’ll make a change from having your Indomie Mi Goreng with a side-order of hangxiety and make you feel like you’re a functioning adult that can actually look after themselves. At least, a little bit.

Ingredients

450g smoked bacon

500g packet noodles

2tbsp peanut butter (we use ManiLife)

2tbsp soy sauce

2tbsp chilli oil

2tbsp rice vinegar

1½tsp five-spice

Knob of ginger

10 spring onions

Method

1. Spoon your peanut butter into a bowl and mix together with your soy sauce, chilli oil, rice vinegar and 2 tbsps of water until you get a thick, creamy, rich sauce. Then set aside.

2. Chop your bacon into chunks and fry in a non-stick pan until crispy.

3. Meanwhile, finely chop your spring onion (setting aside a handful for garnish) and ginger. Add to the pan along with your five-spice for an aromatic kick, then stir together.

4. In another pan bring your noodles to a boil. Simmer for about 3 minutes then add to your bacony pan. Set some of the noodle water aside.

5. Next, take your peanut sauce and toss it through the noodles until they are evenly coated – add a splash of the noodle water to loosen it.

6. Plate up and garnish with a sprinkle of spring onion and a tsp of chilli oil then you’re ready to dig in.

Chorizo and charred spring onion rigatoni

Well a greasy (yet kind of healthy) pasta is the obvious choice for hangover food (MOB Kitchen)

Grease is, undeniably, the word but it’s also one of the mo-st effective means of curing a hangover. I’d happily pour a litre of the stuff down my gullet in the morning if it meant my brain would stop feeling like a Hieronymus Bosch painting but I also know that’s not exactly a very healthy thing to do. If you want a greasy recipe that’s actually fairly (read: kind of) good for you then you should give our chorizo and charred spring onion rigatoni a whirl. It’s creamy, spicy and the labour of peeling almonds is actually just the sort of mundane task you need when you’re hungover.

Ingredients

1 chorizo ring

18 spring onions

50g jarred roasted peppers

2tbsp red wine vinegar

1 heaped tbsp tomato puree

2tbsp creme fraiche

450g rigatoni

Bunch of parsley

Salt

Pepper

Method

1. Start by placing the almonds into a measuring jug and fill it with boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes to loosen the skins.

2. Peel the skin off the chorizo and roughly break it apart into small chunks. Then chop the spring onions in half.

3. Add the chorizo into a non-stick frying pan on medium heat without any oil and let the juices render out.

4. Meanwhile, remove the almonds from the water and peel away the skins.

5. Once they have all been peeled and the chorizo is beginning to crisp, add the almonds into the pan along with the spring onions and peppers. Fry on a high heat for a couple of minutes until charred.

6. Pour in the red wine vinegar and mix together.

7. Add in the tomato puree and stir so that everything is coated.

8. Whack in the creme fraiche and stir together making it nice and creamy. Once all mixed together, season with salt and pepper and turn it down to a low heat.

9. Get your pasta on and salt the water. After about 5 minutes of boiling, take ½ a cup of pasta water and add it into the sauce. Mix together to loosen it up then continue to simmer.

10. Once your pasta is ready, drain and toss it through the sauce.

11. Finely chop your parsley and whack a handful into the pasta (saving some for garnish). Mix together and you’re good to go. Serve it up in bowls and scatter over the leftover parsley. Enjoy!

Hungry for more? We’ve got you covered with plenty of recipes on the MOB Kitchen website.