Brown Rice Porridge

First of all, it is important to ensure that the rice is freshly ground even if you have to go to the trouble of acquiring an adequate grinder. We use the Sumeet blender/grinder now that we have bought it for the commercial kitchen for home use as well. Before discovering this machine, we used a coffee grinder which we enventually damaged because it was underpowered for the work of grinding dry rice. We also use an organic brown rice. Since only two of us in the household are in love with this breakfast, we manage to make enough for a few extra mornings. Hal has his portion with dates and chopped bananas and I, being off fruit sugar as well, have mine plain (or with rice milk—which has a tiny amount of malt). The American Dream Rice milk is the one we use because of the taste. The Australian variety, which is cheaper, is not yet suitable for some of the things we require of a rice milk—it curdles when added to tea for example. And speaking of tea, that’s another recipe we shall bring to you shortly. Anyway, if you want to support the Australian brand in rice milk, you can use it for making your buckwheat crepes (recipe coming soon) and other mixtures destined for cooking.

We also use sunflower seeds and nuts, ground lightly, added towards the end of the porridge making since it does not require as much cooking. They add flavor and much nutrition. Sunflower seeds boosts the adrenal glands and builds virus immunity. Here is a list of vitamins and minerals in these nuts and seeds:Vit B6, Vit E, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Zinc. Topping this breakfast off in winter with a serve of flaxseed oil is extra nourishing and suports liver function as well as being flavoursome.

Recipe:

2 to 3 cups brown rice (organic if possible)
1 ½ cups mixture sunflower and pumpkin seed
6 cups water
Coldpressed flaxseed oil (optional)

Grind brown rice till fine (not quite the consistency of flour). Empty the contents of grinder into a dry heavy-bottomed saucepan (big enough to handle the extra water plus extra room to allow for the spluttering of hot mixture). Heat up the 6 cups of water in a separate saucepan, allowing it to come to the boil while you are finishing the rest of the preparation.

Grind the seeds and keep aside. Start heating up the brown rice, stirring constantly to keep it from burning with a flat edged wooden spatula (the shape of the spatula stops little bits of rice from burning in hard to reach spots). The ground rice will start darkening, and in the process you might find patches start to darken quickly, so adjust the speed of your stirring. This is where having everything ready is helpful since you don’t have to leave your position in front of the cooking rice. Add the ground seeds and toast lightly (the temperature in the pot will drop and pick up). When the seeds are heated up (about a minute), then take the container and rest it in the sink. Have the lid of the pot nearby. Get the boiling or near boiling water from the stove, pour quickly into rice and seed mixture and if you can, stir quickly before putting lid on top. If the spluttering is too fierce, slam the lid on top! Then lift lid and stir when you can. The porridge should be cooked instantly but I usually put it back on the warm element of the stove for about a minute before serving with rice milk and flaxseed oil.

Put the rice milk in first so the flaxseed oil doesn’t get too hot and lose it’s beneficial properties.

You can also use chopped bananas, dates or even use honey if you are not avoiding fruit and sugars.