I think I’ve already touched on my (borderline embarrassing) cookbook obsession here so we don’t need to get into that again today but have I told you what my favorite thing to do is when I get a new book? It’s probably yours too! Checkout every single recipe and find the ones where you have all the ingredients on hand but they’re arranged in an inspiring new way that you would’ve never thought of. Enter this rice pudding / porridge thingy. I’m always sitting on the rice pudding fence, like take it or leave it, it’s not something I go crazy for. I’m more of a chocolate brownie à la mode kinda girl and well, rice belongs with beans in a burrito or something, ya know? So seeing this porridge didn’t get me pumped at first but I had so many delicious blueberries that were begging to be eaten in something other than greek yogurt. So I took a chance. And guess what? Soooo good! Like, my-new-favorite-thing, I-want-to-make-this-all-the-time, good. The recipe comes from the book Simply Ancient Grains by Maria Speck. Maria is the #1 grain guru – red quinoa, golden Kamut berries, farro, teff, this lady knows how to cook it all up in the most delicious way. Her book is jam-packed full of grain recipes for every course and season. I’m looking forward to trying the farro scones with almonds, apples and thyme when the weather gets a bit cooler, as well as the kamut shortbread with hazelnuts! Yum! To make this recipe a bit more week-day friendly, I substituted lite coconut milk for the half and half – it was plenty lush if you ask me. Sticking with the coconut theme (and because I didn’t have pistachios on hand) I used toasted coconut chips as the topping. With just a handful of ingredients and by soaking the rice overnight, it all comes together pretty quickly and tastes equally delicious warm or cold. I mean just check out that super dark, antioxidant boost of color in a bowl!
Ingredients for the Black Rice
3/4 cup black rice
2 whole cardamom pods
1 and 1/2 cup boiling water
Ingredients for the Porridge
1 cup coconut milk, plus more as needed
3 tablespoons of maple syrup, or more to taste
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup blueberries
pinch of fine sea salt
toasted coconut chips for garnish
Directions
Place rice and cardamom pods (or ground cardamom if you don’t have pods) in a saucepan and pour the boiling water over it. Let sit over night. In the morning, pour off the excess water and add the coconut milk, maple syrup, salt and more cardamom. Bring to a boil then uncover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until tender, about 5 t0 7 minutes. Remove cardamom pods (if using), turn off the heat and add the blueberries. Add more coconut milk as you like and garnish with coconut chips.
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from the book: Simply Ancient Grains: Fresh and Flavorful Whole Grain Recipes for Living Well
I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.