Come the middle of winter we become a two pans of porridge in the morning household. The traditionalist – don’t mess with my breakfast – Ed likes a classic creamy oat and milk based porridge, whilst I am more adventurous about breakfast and start to look for some more interesting options.
My latest, and currently favourite porridge contains buckwheat and a mix of flaked oats, wheat, spelt and rye, spiced with cloves and cardamom, with added dried fruit, seeds & nuts, as well as a grated carrot. A generous dollop of coconut oil moistens and adds flavour. This is full of texture and far more interesting than your usual bowl of porridge.
I make a large jar of of mixed dried fruit, nuts and seeds for adding to porridge up every few weeks, far speedier than keeping everything in their separate packets. Here are some ideas of what to include:
Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, hemp – grind linseed / flax freshly and add just before eating
Nuts – raw cashews, almonds, walnuts, cob & hazelnuts.
Fruit – unsulphured apricots (makes such a difference to taste), dates, figs, cranberries, raisins, currants, sultanas etc.
- ½ cup buckwheat groats
- ½ cup rolled oats – I used mix of oats spelt, rye & wheat flakes
- 2 heaped tsp coconut oil
- 4 cardamom pods – lightly crushed
- Pinch ground all spice or mixed spice
- 1 tbs mixed dried fruit nuts and seeds
- 2 medium carrots – grated
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Place the buckwheat and oats into a bowl, cover with cold water and allow to soak overnight.
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In the morning drain the buckwheat and oats, put in a pan with the rest of the ingredients along with an espresso cup of water. Cook over a gentle heat for about 10 mins until the coconut oil has melted and the buckwheat is soft.
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Serve immediately with a drizzle of maple syrup.
My coconut oil was from Nu3 an online health food store, who sell a wide range of health foods and supplements, including many European brands which are not readily available in the UK. I’m looking forward to using both the hazelnut butter and hemp oil in smothies in the near future.
This porridge ticks the boxes for a plethora of blog events this month.
Extra Veg which I run jointly with Michelle at Utterly Scrummy.
Nayna’s In my Veg Box where this month the vegetable is carrots
Feel Good Food over at A Kick At the Pantry Door
Four Seasons Food, where the theme is virtuous, run by Louisa and Anneli
One Ingredient, where the theme is healthy, run by Laura and Nazima.
Many thanks to Nu3 for my samples.
Sounds and looks yummy but I just cannot bring myself to eat porridge! My kids love it though :)
Lucie, this is more of a warm grain based salad, loads and loads of texture.
WOW Helen this looks super healthy, thanks for sending it to In my VEG BOX~Carrots event.
Glad you like it Nayna.
wow I must try this recipe out I am finding my IBS is playing up alot lately and its partly to do with my diet so I need to get some more good foods into me found you on the UK Bloggers FB page xxx
Let me know how it goes Nina. I am slightly addicted to this now.
Sounds like a brilliant start to the day so I’ll be sure to give this a go! I’m hungry after reading this ahaha
Alex x
Enjoy!
Oh interesting. I have never tried or cooked with buckwheat. love the flavours.
Jac, you will love buckwheat – it is amazing in veggie burgers. Diet Dessert and Dogs has an awesome veggie burger recipe.
LOVE this recipe, love the carrot, the spices and love the nuttiness. It’s not too far from my recent carrot halwa porridge xx
I think parsnip would work wonderfully well too Deena, or squash?
Love porridge in pretty much any format. Like your addition of coconut oil, must try that. My mother has jars of breakfast sprinkles – one for fruit, one for nuts and one for seeds.
Saves loads of times having all the sprinkles all mixed up, although we grind our flax fresh as we use it.
i cant eat the everyday cereals my kids and husband eats theres just something about that makes me want to bork, but granola and oats i love x
I cannot abide cows milk. Cereal with soy milk is lovely. But vile with cows milk.
That looks so yummy but I wouldn’t be able to eat it as I have Coeliac’s, so no wheat/gluten/rye/oats/barley for me :(
Erika, you could use the buckwheat and oat flakes. Despite its name buckwheat is wheat free and is actually a type of rhubarb.
I am totally blinded by that beautiful Anthropologie bowl – I have a similar one :) and yes am a fan of porridge but am wondering if I can be adventurous enough to give coconut oil a go ?! i love apricots too!
I am developing an Anthro habit. Ed bought me lots of bowls for Christmas. So pretty for blogs. Go for the porridge.
I’m with Ed, I love my traditional porridge (just the way my Scottish Granny made it!), but I have to say yours sounds delicious too.
This looks about as Virtuous as breakfast can get! Packed full of goodness and such a fabulous and sustaining way to start the day. I’m a very boring ‘don’t mess with my porridge’ kind of girl, but maybe I should branch out….Thanks so much for linking up to January’s #FourSeasonsFood #Virtuous event.
This may well be the porridge for me. I can’t stand normal porridge, it’s a texture thing, Your buckwheat version sounds so much more interesting and is packed full of goodies. I have coconut oil that gets used but not often enough and this could be the answer. A lovely One Ingredient entry, thanks!