Nuances of cooking cereals:
1) The smaller the grains, the faster they cook. Some varieties of oatmeal need to be boiled for 2 hours, hominy – 45 minutes, and semolina porridge can be cooked in minutes. If you don’t have much time to prepare breakfast in the morning, make porridge from cereals, such as oatmeal. 2) The amount of water needed to cook porridge depends on the degree of grinding of cereals. If you buy porridge in a box, cook it according to the instructions on the box. 3) Pre-roasting cereals makes the taste of porridge more intense. Pour the cereal into a dry frying pan and toast a little over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Then pour them into a saucepan and cook the porridge in the traditional way. 4) In principle, the method of preparing cereals is very simple: pour the cereals into lightly salted boiling water (classic proportion: 1 cup of cereals to 3 cups of water) and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cereals absorb water and swell. If the porridge is too thick, add some water and stir. And if it’s too liquid, add more cereals and cook a little more over medium heat. To prevent lumps from forming in the porridge, stir the cereals thoroughly during cooking. 5) Despite the fact that porridges harden quite quickly, porridge will be tastier and easier to digest if you let it stand for 5-10 minutes on the switched off stove. 6) Traditionally, porridges are boiled in water, but porridges cooked in milk or juice are much more interesting. Try oatmeal porridge boiled with apple juice and semolina porridge with milk. At the end of cooking, you can add a little oil or honey to the porridge. 7) Now cereals from a mixture of cereals are very popular. You can come up with your own recipe by mixing your favorite cereals. 8) Although we are more used to sweet cereals, spicy seasonings, such as sesame seeds with salt or grated hard cheese, are also an excellent ingredient for cereals.
Ingredients for porridge:
1) Sweet – maple syrup, stevia, honey. 2) Dairy products – cow’s milk, soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, buttermilk, cream, butter, yogurt, grated hard cheese. Cheddar cheese goes well with hominy porridge. 3) Fruits, berries and fruit juices (especially apple and pear juices). Stewed apples can be added to oatmeal porridge or roasted barley flakes. 4) Seeds – ground flax seeds, chia seeds. 5) Nuts – walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pecans, macadamia nuts. 6) Dried fruits – raisins, prunes, dates, dried apricots. Boiled prunes are an ideal ingredient for semolina porridge, rice porridge, and couscous porridge. 7) Spices – cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg. Cooking porridge in a steamer. A steamer is an amazing invention that allows you not to control the process of cooking food. Almost all types of cereals can be cooked in a double boiler. Pour the cereals into the container and place the container on top of the steamer. When the porridge thickens, move the container to the lower level and cook for 20 minutes (for coarse oatmeal – 40 minutes). Cooking porridge in a slow cooker. The slow cooker is ideal for cooking hominy and coarse oatmeal. In the evening, pour cereals into a slow cooker, set it to the lowest speed, and in the morning you will wake up from the delicious smell of ready-made porridge. Cooking porridge in a thermos. This method is suitable for all types of cereals. Fill a thermos with hot water and set aside. Cook porridge in boiling water. Then pour out the water from the thermos, transfer the porridge into it, screw on the lid and leave until the morning. If you don’t have time for breakfast in the morning, take a thermos of porridge with you.
Lakshmi