pimp my porridge

HEALTHY Porridge w/ LSA, Honey and Cinnamon !!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 14:31:00 +0000

Store bought LSA (ground linseed,sunflower seed and almonds), a tsp of honey and a few dashes of cinnamon to taste ! Healthy and sooooo GOOD !!!!

I also add a little bit of oat bran to give it a little more of a healthy boost and keeps you fuller for longer !

Posted by Grace

Ochazuke

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 14:29:00 +0000

This is a traditional Japanese breakfast demi-porridge. Unlike a regular porridge, you don't cook it to draw the starches out. Start with some cold, leftover rice in a bowl. Boil a pot of water, and then brew some genmai-cha -- this is an inexpensive green tea flavored with toasted brown rice. Pour the hot tea over the rice. Add salt. If you have it, you can add a salted pickled plum (umeboshi). Also popular is some salmon flakes. Stir it up and eat.

There are also some expensive packets to make this "instantly". I think the instant stuff is inferior to using brewed tea.

Posted by John K

Plain is the best!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:26:00 +0000

I eat mine very simple and plain.

20g porridge oats
300ml milk
1 tbsp sugar

I cook it in Bain Marie kind of pot for 50 minutes. Then I put my porridge in a bowl and add sugar and then it's resdy.

Today though I've tried it with cinnamon after reading this webside and it was gorgeous too!

Posted by Joanna

My new bowl: Oats Made Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:48:00 +0000

Came up with this idea to simplify microwave porridge. I've finally gotten around to making a small production run of 50.

Take a look, and if you buy one, please send some feedback.

Posted by Tim info@oatsmadeeasy.co.uk

www.oatsmadeeasy.co.uk

Magic Oatmeal Infographic

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:20:00 +0000

A visual recipe guide to make some delicious oatmeal that includes dried fruits, nuts and maple syrup.

Designed by Katie Shelly

Source: http://visual.ly/magic-oatmeal

Porridge from Hand to Mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Mon, 09 May 2011 02:21:00 +0000

Reposted from Hand to Mouth (a comrade in porridge improvement)

http://www.handtomouthblog.com/pimp-my-porridge/

We all know that porridge is healthy, but as is often the case with healthy stuff, it can get a bit boring. Luckily porridge is also a good base for other flavours, so try out this slightly tropicaaaaal version. I’ve used ‘mugs’ as a measurement as I can’t really be bothered to be precise in the morning. And use coconut chips as opposed to dessicated if you can. This quantity will serve 2.

Ingredients

1 mug of jumbo organic oats

1 mug of semi skimmed milk

3/4 mug water

Handful of coconut chips

Small handful of dried cranberries

Small handful of dried blueberries

1 apple, cubed – preferably something with a bit of tang like a granny smith / cox or braeburn

Maple syrup

Method

Put the oats, water and 3/4 of the milk into a saucepan and bring gently up to simmering point. Let the mixture simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, before adding the coconut chips. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, again stirring occasionally. Chop up the apple whilst this is going on.

After this time, the mixture will be pretty thick and sticky. Let it down by adding the remaining milk and some maple syrup to taste (maple is very sweet, so you don’t need that much), and remove from the heat.

Mix in the dried fruit, and the divide into two bowls. Scatter the apple cubes on top, and then eat.

Soak Seeds?

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:07:00 +0000

Question from: TheLady_Kat

Hi - just wanting to know if you soak your seeds overnight like I do with my oats or do they just go in when cooking? I'm soaking my dried fruit overnight and nuts but wasn't sure about seeds.

Answer from pimp my porridge:

Hi Kat,

At the risk of being non-commital, it depends on the seeds really. It also depends on your personal taste. I prefer to have a course texture that cuts through the mushier porridge texture, so I don't soak seeds myself. But some argue that soaking seeds and nuts helps with nutrient absorption (see here). So if it's health you're after, then soaking may be the best bet, but if it's taste, texture, then to each her own. I will say though that dried goji berries are definitely best if soaked - both for taste, texture and for nutrient absorption.

Thanks for writing and reading!

pimp my porrdige

How to make Oatmeal... Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:14:00 +0000

NYTimes.com - 22 Feb 2011, 8:30 PM

How to Make Oatmeal . . . Wrong

By MARK BITTMAN

Mark Bittmanon food and all things related.

TAGS:

FAST FOOD,MCDONALD’S, NUTRITION,OATMEAL

There’s a feeling of inevitability in writing about McDonald’s latest offering, their “bowl full of wholesome” — also known as oatmeal. The leading fast-food multinational, with sales over $16.5 billion a year (just under the GDP of Afghanistan), represents a great deal of what is wrong with American food today. From a marketing perspective, they can do almost nothing wrong; from a nutritional perspective, they can do almost nothing right, as the oatmeal fiasco demonstrates.

One “positive” often raised about McDonald’s is that it sells calories cheap. But since many of these calories are in forms detrimental rather than beneficial to our health and to the environment, they’re actually quite expensive — the costs aren’t seen at the cash register but in the form of high health care bills and environmental degradation.

Oatmeal is on the other end of the food spectrum. Real oatmeal contains no ingredients; rather, it is an ingredient. As such, it’s a promising lifesaver: oats are easy to grow in almost any non-extreme climate and, minimally processed, they’re profoundly nourishing, inexpensive and ridiculously easy to cook. They can even be eaten raw, but more on that in a moment.

Like so many other venerable foods, oatmeal has been roundly abused by food marketers for more than 40 years. Take, for example, Quaker Strawberries and Cream Instant Oatmeal, which contains no strawberries, no cream, 12 times the sugars of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats and only half of the fiber. At least it’s inexpensive, less than 50 cents a packet on average. (A serving of cooked rolled oats will set you back half that at most, plus the cost of condiments; of course, it’ll be much better in every respect.)

Pumpkin pie oatmeal

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:10:00 +0000

This past month, I used old fashioned oats to make something different every day. This was the best:

1 1/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup water

1 - 1 1/3 cup pumpkin pie filling (homemade is best)

Optional: Dollop of whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Add 1 cup old fashioned oats to an oven safe (non metal preferred) dish.

Add water to the oats, mix and allow to settle.

Add pumpkin pie filling, trying to not disturb the oats too much.

Put it in the oven for 40 minutes. Let it cool down. Add a dollop of whipped cream if you feel like it and eat.

Posted by: a little whipped cream in my porridge

Brown Rice Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:33:00 +0000

I invented this while craving porridge one night, but had no oats.

- Cook your brown rice however you like. 1/2 cup of washed raw rice per person should do it, and triple the amount of water/milk (eg 1 cup per 1/2 cup rice). Keep an eye on it, you may need to add more as it cooks.
- Once cooked, tip out any excess water and put the rice in your special porridge bowl, and stir in some milk.
- Add whatever tasties you like. Honey, cinnamon and banana all taste super fantastic.
- Don't forget this recipe in case you run out of oats!

You could also substitute with any type of rice you have on hand.

Big love porridge lovers!

Posted by: Natalie

Pumpkin Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:13:00 +0000

1 cup pumpkin water
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 ounces of mashed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
Pomegranate seeds
Chopped walnuts
Brown sugar for sprinkling

Method
Bring the pumpkin water and salt to a boil. Stir in the oats. Cook for two minutes. Add the cinnamon, pumpkin, and vanilla sugar and cook until the oatmeal reaches desired consistency.
Top oatmeal with pomegranates, walnuts, and a sprinkling of brown sugar.

Posted by: I love breakfast

Better Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:06:00 +0000

Lumpy thick man porridge vs creamy soft womanly porridge?

I like mine with either apple or banana and coconut cooked through in the beginning.

Call me soft!

Posted by*: Megan

Ting: Sour Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:03:00 +0000

From Cooking from Cape to Cairo : A Taste of Africa / Dorah Sitole and True Love Magazine

country : Lesotho

course : side dish

Ingredients

120 g (4½ oz) / 250 ml (1 cup) maize-meal
250 ml (1 cup) maize-rice
375 ml (1½ cups) water

Mix all the ingredients in a plastic bowl.

Leave to stand for 2 - 3 days. taste to see if the mixture is sour. If not, leave it for another day to ferment.

When the mixture is ready, pour 750 ml (3 cups) water in a saucepan and heat to boiling point.

Gradually add the fermented mixture, stirring continuously to eliminate lumps. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until cooked. Serve with Sebete se Halikiloeng with Morogo.

Serves 4.

Frog legs porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:52:00 +0000

From: Let's get Wokking

There's a stall in Singapore, Geylang, that sells Frog Legs Porridge which is very famous. I haven't tried it but everyone who has, tells me it's the best.

It's not easy to prepare frog legs. To start with, one has to overcome the grossness of handling the skinless frog. That is if you are lucky to buy it dead with the skin already removed for you. I'm one of the lucky ones. I just have to bring them home and chop it into pieces. You can't overcooked the frog legs either as it will be too tough to even chew.

Ingredients:

Porridge cooked with Bone Broth
3 Frogs, skinned and chopped
Shredded Ginger for frying and steaming
1/2 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil for frying

Seasonings:

1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil

Marinade:

1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil
1/2 tablespoon Ginger Sauce

How to do it:

Marinate the frog parts for half an hour.
Heat a wok with sesame seed oil.
Fry the ginger shreds till golden brown.
Remove and set aside to be used later.
Pour out oil (can be used to drizzle the porridge) but do not wash the wok.
Saute the frog; half cooked is enough.
Place the frog legs in a dish.
Add seasonings and top with some ginger shreds.
Steam on high heat for 5 mins.
Before you steam the frog legs, return the other parts to the porridge for further cooking.
Simmer the porridge for half an hour to hour.
To eat, place frog legs on the the porridge.
Drizzle with the steamed sauce and sesame seed oil from frying the ginger shreds.
Top with fried ginger shreds and serve hot.

Note:
I did not season my porridge because I used the sauce from steamed frog legs as seasoning.

Latvian Sour Porridge: Skabputra

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:50:00 +0000

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lativa
http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/latvia/about/Cuisine/food/Skabputra/

Ingredients: 1 litre water, 2 tablespoons barely groats, 1 glass curdled milk, 2 tablespoons sour cream.

Rinse barely groats and add to boiling water, boil to semi-softness. Add curdled milk to porridge and stop boiling. Add sour cream to cooled porridge. If you want sour porridge, keep it in room temperature for 1-2 days and then serve with sour cream and add milk. Porridge can be made with buttermilk, or you can add to the porridge curdled milk that has been beaten to a homogenous consistency. Skabputra should be served well cooled.

Athol Brose

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:40:00 +0000

A recipe attributed to the Royal Scots Fusiliers, gives the following proportions, to be mixed, as is the tradition, "with a silver spoon if available":

* 7 parts oatmeal brose
* 7 parts whisky
* 5 parts cream
* 1 part honey

The brose is prepared by steeping a volume of oatmeal overnight in three times as much cold water, then straining the liquid through muslin (discarding the oatmeal).

Posted by: Lian

Winter warmer

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:14:00 +0000

Very simple and warming... before adding your preferred quantity of milk to the porridge oats, add one "knife" of cinnamon and one of ginger (per person) and mix well. A "knife" is measured by holding your jar of spice on its side, jabbing a table knife in (horizontally, not edge-up) and then withdrawing it. An under-rated system of measurement! Anyway, cook as normal, but before serving mix in 3-4 desertspoons on dried mixed peel. Serve and enjoy...!

Posted by: PzSteve

Crunchy Porridge!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0000

I would normally be a huge advocate of porridge with banana, honey and cinnamon, but this morning, I checked the fruit bowl to find.... no bananas.. Indeed no fruit! Disaster.

Scoured the food presses to find a replacement, but only managed to find a mixed seed selection (pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds). What's the worst that can happen? (combustion is unlikely).
So after the Microwave alerted me to the porridge's cooked state, I added a good handful of the mixed seeds, and the usual quantities of honey (a good squeeze) and cinnamon (a healthy scatter), I gave the mixture a quick stir and allowed it to rest for a minute or two.

Delish! A lovely crunchiness is introduced, and the seeds must have released some oils to give the porridge a slightly nutty taste. I'm not sure that the banana will be permanently relegated to the fruit bowl, but it might find that it has to fight for space in the porridge bowl in future, alongside the sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.

I'm a long distance runner, and there really is no better way to prepare for a long run (particularly in cold wet Ireland) than a big slurpy bowl of porridge (now with extra seeds!).

Posted by: GaryC

Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I make my porridge with water (instead of milk) and 3 dessert spoons of a home made mix of sunflower, pumpkin, linseed sesame seeds. this is topped off in the bowl with low fat yoghurt or semi-skimmed milk and a honey. This will give you all the good oils you need and you'll be as regular as clockwork (if that is a department you have problems with - I don't but it is a side effect.

Posted by: Richard

Speculoos Pate Pasta Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:13:00 +0000

So you like biscuits.

And you like porridge.

Enter stage left -

Speculoos Pâte Pasta!

Warm cinnamon biscuit flavoured spread that added to your steaming bowl will make you smile from ear to ear!

Posted by: Claire

Cinnamon & Honey Porridge!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:48:00 +0000

This is probably the most popular porridge recipe but I'll share it anyhow!

4.5 mins in the microwave (to the last second!)

Add spoonful of honey, then top it up with a layer of cinnamon-powder).

Viola!!! Enjoy :)

Posted by Stha

Creamy Porridge with Flambéed Plum, Orange Syrup & Crème Fraîche

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:11:00 +0000

From: Flavahans.com

Creamy Porridge:

4oz/110g Flahavan's Progress Oatlets
1 pint/600ml milk
3 ½ floz/100ml cream
Grated zest of one orange
Pinch salt

Flambéed Plums:
4 plums
2oz/50g butter
2oz/50g brown sugar
1 measure Grand Manier

Orange Reduction:
½ pint/250ml orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
½ vanilla pod

Garnish:
Sprigs of mint
Crème Fraîche

Methodology:
Put the Flahavan's porridge oats, salt and milk into a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil

Simmer for 3-4 minutes and then add in the cream and orange zest and cook for a further moment or two and then keep in a warm place until you are ready to serve.

Cut the plums into quarters and take out the stones.

Heat the pan with the butter and ten add in the plums and toss around for a couple of minutes until they are lazed. Scatter in the sugar and cook for 3-4 minutes. Just before serving add in a splash of Grand Marnier and allow that to flame up. Be very careful not to get burned.

Place the orange juice, sugar and vanilla pod into a small saucepan and boil continuously for 5-6 minutes until it has reduced to a thick syrup.

Serve the Flahavan's porridge in a large bowl with the flambéed plums on top. Drizzle with the orange syrup and top with a quenelle of crème fraîche and a sprig of fresh mint.

Grand Marnier and Nutella Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:06:00 +0000

Following on from my last post about Nutella Porridge...

We've all been there. You're going out for Sunday brunch with some mates, and you're torn between whether to go for the healthy porridge/yoghurt option or to dive in for the full-on boozy brunch.

Well, I say, why not have both?

Stealing a recipe idea from my mother (for chocolate orange biscuits), you take your basic porridge, cooked how you like it. You add a healthy spoonful of Nutella and then a healthy measure of Grand Marnier (1/2 to 1 full shot per person is probably appropriate depending on how much porridge you're making). Stir well. Allow it to soak in, and enjoy!

Posted by Ian

Nutella Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Russell) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Every once in a while, I wake up with a throbbing sweet tooth. On one urge-filed morning in particular, I broke open the presses and seeing a jar of nutella nestled next to the bag of porridge oats, and I thought, 'Why not?'

Years later, I'm still enjoying my occasional morning treat of nutella porridge. 1 spoonful goes a long way to satisfying and need for indulgence. It's so tasty, that I've even been known to make it as a dessert now and again.

Enjoy!