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Porridge On The Wild Side

I love my oats, I really do, but sometimes, folks, enough is enough.

After a long winter of oaty breakfasts, I have begun to stray. At first it was just the occasional round of coffee and toast or the irresistible draw of a pancake, then last week – in what I can only describe as a moment of wheatness – I found myself buying weetabix, despite the rather large quantity of porridge oats still in my possession.

Of course, I should really address the situation by shaking up my daily porridge routine (though not literally you understand, as that could get quite messy). But the fact is that I’m not ready to fall back into those oaten arms just yet. I’m sorry oats, but I’m about to go a bit wild, and make my porridge with rice.

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Mahnomin Porridge

Wild rice porridge

I must confess that I have a long standing abhorrence of sweet rice dishes, borne of some bad childhood experiences with sickly rice puddings. Nevertheless, I was instantly intrigued by the idea of wild rice porridge when Tangled Noodle (she-who-is-to-rice-what-I-am-to-potatoes) wrote all about it here.

The idea for wild rice (a.k.a. manoomin or mahnomin) porridge originated with Chef Mitch Omer at Hell’s Kitchen in Minneapolis. The original involves wild rice, cream, maple syrup, dried blueberries, dried cranberries and toasted hazelnuts. The version below retains only the wild rice from the original. The rest came about after a quick rifle through my cupboards to see what I had that might work – and this little lot, I think, does.

You’ll need:

  • 4 prunes (about 50g, once soaked and destoned, or use ready-to-eat prunes)
  • 1 large-ish banana (about 100g, once peeled)
  • 200g cooked wild rice (you’ll need about 75g uncooked)
  • approx. 8 tblsp natural yoghurt (or more, to taste)
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tblsp chopped toasted almonds, optional

The Steps:

  • Chop the prunes finely and mash together with the banana.
  • Add the wild rice, yoghurt, lemon juice, mashed banana and prunes to a small saucepan and warm through over a medium-low heat.
  • Serve as is or garnish with almonds if you like.

The Variations:

  • I reckon that some fresh blueberries would go nicely with this. You could also add a splash of cognac for some added inner warmth.

The Results:

  • Porridge (but not as you know it) for two

If oats are where it’s at for you porridge-wise, and you fancy devising some snazzy porridge and oat recipes, then there’s still time to enter this year’s Flahavan’s Challenge. There are two top prizes of €1,500 up for grabs for the perfect porridge and for the tastiest oat-based dish. The competition runs until 28th February and multiple entries can be submitted. See the Flahavan’s website for details.

16 Comments

  1. Michelle

    Oh that looks so sweet and delish! Life is too short to eat the same breakfast constantly…

  2. Phoo-d

    This looks like a delicious riff on the original. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the mahnomin from Hell’s Kitchen and can attest that it is a wonderful breakfast (as are the lemon ricotta pancakes). We are getting tired of oats too. It is time to break out the rice!

  3. The Duo Dishes

    Hey, you’re still getting whole grains with a bit of a softened crunch. It works!

  4. SJ

    that looks yum!
    have been adding fresh mango to my porridge the last few mornings as I needed something different …
    this is next on the “to try” list !!

  5. lisaiscooking

    I have a thing for wild rice, so a breakfast fling with it sounds pretty great. In fact, I have a bag of the stuff sitting right here. This sounds like a great idea!

  6. Daily Spud

    Michelle: so true, variety is the spice of breakfast :)

    Phoo-D: I’d love to try the original at Hell’s Kitchen – pity it’s so far away! Will definitely try something closer to the original when I next get my hands on some maple syrup, though.

    Duo Dishes: absolutely!

    SJ: mmm, fresh mango…

    lisaiscooking: oh do try it out – I still love having wild rice in savoury dishes but this does make for an interesting change

  7. Cynthia Gerdes

    It’s in the Hell’s Kitchen cookbook called “Damn Good Food” which they sell online (as well as the porridge kit with all contents) at HellsKitchenInc.com

  8. Daily Spud

    Ah, thanks for that Cynthia – good to know!

  9. Sophie

    What a tasty wild rice & fruit dish aka breakfast !! This one I would enjoy thoroughly too!

    Kisses!

  10. Daily Spud

    I have no doubt that you would thoroughly enjoy it Sophie! x

  11. Tangled Noodle

    My rice-lovin’ self is humbled and so very honored to be mentioned here. And I’m thrilled to no end by your brilliant version of mahnomin porridge – love the use of banana and prunes to sweeten and yogurt for the creamy texture. I brought bags of wild rice to the Philippines to ensure that the Noodle household would be well-provisioned, but I didn’t realize how expensive real cream is here. Now, with your fresh and subtly sweet take on it, mahnomin is back on the menu, and in a healthier way! 8-D

    You have such a way with starches… ;-)

  12. OysterCulture

    Yum, may you get further moments of wheatness, as they appear to lead to inspiration. I can attest that the Hell’s Kitchen book is indeed awesome, after TN got me hooked on some recipe that she made out of there. I love your take on this porridge it sounds just about perfect and with all the creative ingredients, i defy anyone to get tired of getting their fiber in this manner.

  13. Keith

    This should really be called mah-om-nom-nom-nomin’ porridge!! great little recipe after the heavy winter and an excleent way to sneak teh sneaky prunes in too! and with the lots of oh so yum superfood buzz, i can deal with the category breakdown in what ought to be porridge and what ought not. lead me into the light, carol-ann!!

  14. Daily Spud

    Tangled Noodle: starches ‘r’ us, m’dear :D

    OysterCulture: Of course I am now immensely keen to take a look at the Hell’s Kitchen book, if mahnomin porridge is anything to go by. And it’s always good to mix things up a little, no matter what the meal :)

    Keith: Thanks, glad that you’re so buzzed about the mahnomin! Now, I hate to ask, but who’s Carol-Ann ? :)

  15. keith egan

    hey!! I’m always looking to improve my diet to deny the debauchery of my youth! i guess you didn’t watch any horrors about houses built on indian burial grounds as a child then… its a reference to poltergeist the movie!! I’m eclectic!

  16. Daily Spud

    My dear Keith, I have obviously neglected my education, which has clearly been more porridge than poltergeist (though, to be fair, some of my childhood porridges did border on the horrific!)

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