SIENNA'S PINK PORRIDGE
With Valentine’s just around the corner and having cooked another bowl of pink porridge for Sienna, my friend’s daughter, I thought it would be a cute recipe to share ahead of the 14th. Then you can hopefully look forward to a new cake recipe to celebrate Mahi’s and my birthdays in the next newsletter.
So Sienna comes over often and is notoriously fussy about food, or perhaps we should say unfussed by food in general — she’d rather play, sing, dance, or come out with the funniest things. She loves the great outdoors, animals and adventure — Julie, my dog, is one of her best friends. Julie barks the house down when she hears Sienna approach the front door.
Well, pink porridge is one of Sienna’s favourite meals and while “regular” porridge is on the repertoire for her meals, she doesn’t get stuck in like she does with this porridge. Perhaps it’s the name of it, the pink of it, or the fact that she gets to not only stir in pink powder but also sprinkle it with freeze dried raspberries, which I think is a bit yuck in this context — and I suspect she does too — but it’s the idea that counts, eh?
Her mum also loves it and wants to know how I make it, as she just can’t get it the same. I think it’s the long slow cook, the looser texture, the fragrant jaggery plus a hint of spice — something that Sienna hasn’t turned her nose up to once. I’ve made this porridge with standard rolled oats, milled barley (I just popped whole barley groats into my blender until roughly ground) and poha (rice flakes, but it will also work with basmati — just cook it for much longer). Soaking speeds this recipe up but it can’t be rushed either, especially if made with dairy milk, which should be cooked well as per Ayurveda.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 1
½ cup of rolled oats or ground barley (contains gluten) or soaked rice or poha
1½ cups water
½ cup whole organic milk
Pinch each of ground cardamom, ginger and cinnamon
1 tsp jaggery* (or maple syrup) to taste
Beetroot powder
Optional: freeze dried raspberry, to garnish
METHOD
If you like, mix the rolled oats with the water and leave overnight for a quicker-cooking porridge.
Otherwise, add the water to the pan, then the milk and oats (in this order — water first helps stop the milk sticking to or scalding the bottom of the pan), and bring up to a rolling simmer.
Cook for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally — depending on the size of your oats and whether they were pre-soaked — until the oats are falling apart and it has reached your desired consistency, adding a splash more water if necessary. I like porridge loose rather than thick, but it’s up to you!
Stir in a pinch each of ground cardamom, ginger and cinnamon, and some jaggery to taste, and serve with a big pinch of beetroot powder to be stirred in by the recipient with some freeze-dried raspberries (if you like).
East by West tips:
*Use a light-coloured jaggery to keep the porridge pink.
**Don’t cook the beetroot powder, just stir it in at the end, otherwise the colour will fade.
Try these other porridge ideas:
