Hot Cereal

[lindag]

Even though winter is winding down I'd still like to have a recipe for hot cereal I could whip together on a chilly morning.

I've never liked oatmeal or cream of wheat of Malto-Meal despite my mother's efforts.

But there must be a savory recipe for something similar that I could like.

Someone posted about just such a thing here a while back but I cannot find that now.

Got any ideas?  I'd love to hear about them.

[blue_dolphin]

16 minutes ago, lindag said:

Even though winter is winding down I'd still like to have a recipe for hot cereal I could whip together on a chilly morning.

I've never liked oatmeal or cream of wheat of Malto-Meal despite my mother's efforts.

But there must be a savory recipe for something similar that I could like.

Someone posted about just such a thing here a while back but I cannot find that now.

Got any ideas?  I'd love to hear about them.

 

Congee?  Grits?  Polenta?  Upma?

There's a Porridge topic here that has a few ideas. Or search for "savory porridge recipes" and you should find a lot of ideas.  If your focus is limited to oatmeal, look for "savory oatmeal recipes"

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by blue_dolphin
to add oatmeal (log)

[Katie Meadow]

15 minutes ago, lindag said:

Even though winter is winding down I'd still like to have a recipe for hot cereal I could whip together on a chilly morning.

I've never liked oatmeal or cream of wheat of Malto-Meal despite my mother's efforts.

But there must be a savory recipe for something similar that I could like.

Someone posted about just such a thing here a while back but I cannot find that now.

Got any ideas?  I'd love to hear about them.

What about Wheatena? Has a little more bite than cream of wheat. I like grits for breakfast, but real grits take an hour to make, so I usually have leftovers for breakfast. You could try instant grits? I prefer grits to polenta, but there's also instant polenta. What's nice about corn cereal is that it lends itself easily to sweet and savory variations. And even better, if you form your hot grits from dinner into a slab, you can cut it and fry it in butter so it it gets crispy. Cheesy grits are good with hot sauce if you like spicy. Bob's Mill has several types of mixed cereal, if those appeal.

[Darienne]

I solve my breakfast dilemmas in my usual fashion.  Make a huge batch of whatever and then freeze it in daily portions.  My current favorites are not 'cereals' at all, but bran muffins and a Middle Eastern dish.

 

It's called Mujadara/Megadarra/etc/etc depending on your ethnic, religious, country of birth background.  I use the recipe in Claudia Roden, Book of Middle Eastern Food  (one of my earliest cookbooks and which predates my interest in cooking at all) and consists of mainly brown lentils, brown rice and fried onions.  I freeze it in muffin pans and then heat it in the microwave in the morning and dose it with Muffaletta spread.  Not everybody's taste but certainly mine.

[lindag]

Thanks for all the ideas!  I'm gonna start with grits!  I'd never even considered that but I think it just might be what I'm looking for.

[Dejah]

My hubby likes a bit of chew to his porridge, so we have Red River Cereal. There was panic when the original company stopped producing it, but last October, a flour mill, ARVA, in Ontario bought the rights and now we have it back in the stores. Apparently, they can't ship to USA, but a friend of mine gave me a recipe.

 

Recipe for Red River Cereal
 

YIELD: 4 cups

 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons brown flax seeds

• 2 tablespoons golden flax seeds

• 2 cups cracked wheat

• 2 cups rye meal

My friend Kathy’s own mix:

Ingredients: STEEL CUT WHEAT, STEEL CUT RYE (triticale) , CRACKED AND WHOLE FLAX, oatmeal 1/2 c of flax and 1 cup of all the other stuff

1 c triticale, 1 c oat meal, 1/2 c bulgar wheat, 1/3 c flax seed

 

To cook:

Add 1 cup RRC to 3 cups boiling water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and cook until all water is gone and cereal is thick.




 

 

[BeeZee]

I've taken leftover plain cooked quinoa and reheated it with milk, honey, and cinnamon (maybe some dried fruit), but you could also do something leaning savory with broth and sliced toasted almonds (ie, more like pilaf).

[NancyH]

Lidia  Bastianich did a breakfast risotto dish on her PBS show that looks delicious. The recipe is on her website.  

[kayb]

Grits, absolutely. Since you’re specifying savory, can I just tell you the addition of any kind of cheese elevates grits immensely. You can also add browned, crumbled sausage. I do that, spread the grits in a baking dish, make divots in them with the backside of a ladle, crack an egg into each divot, top with a little cream, sprinkle with more cheese, and bake. Wonderful breakfast for a crowd!

 

Grits lend themselves to most any kind of savory add-in and/or topping. And they’re fine with just butter, salt and pepper.

 

There’s a “quick grits” product that tastes better than instant but doesn’t take nearly as long as plain grits. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I read and accept your aversion to rolled oats, but I wonder what your well-meaning mom tried to sell you.   I can't abide sweet cereals or gummy "quick oats".   Nor have I tolerance for breakfasts that take more than 10 minutes.

 

My solution: Old fashioned rolled oats, covered with water, microwaved for 5 to ? minutes, depending on the power of your nuker, splashed with heavy cream and good sprinkle of kosher or Maldon salt.   

 

A cousin to grits or savory porridge.  

Edited April 5, 2023 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[Katie Meadow]

12 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I read and accept your aversion to rolled oats, but I wonder what your well-meaning mom tried to sell you.   I can't abide sweet cereals or gummy "quick oats".   Nor have I tolerance for breakfasts that take more than 10 minutes.

 

 

 

.  .

Five minutes is about my max. That's why god made toast and we make marmalade. But surprisingly my husband does seem to like making breakfast every so often when we've run out of toastable matter.  He used to make very good waffles, but something happened to the waffle iron and we had to get rid of it.  He's perfected biscuits and now has a popover recipe he's happy with and now is thrilled to be using  the vintage 6-cup popover pan we inherited from his mother who never used it once but who  inherited it from her mother.  I just mosey on down five minutes before the stuff comes out of the oven.  I admit that I have become so lazy in the morning sometimes I can't even bother to make hot tea, so I drink it iced, home-brew kept on hand in the fridge. Just to make sure I pay for my laziness I read the breakfast thread in the morning before getting out of bed.  It's awesome to see how many of you can actually function before 11:00 am. Congrats to @Ann_T, @Senior Sea Kayaker and @blue_dolphinand many others! 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Katie Meadow (log)

[Maison Rustique]

11 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I read and accept your aversion to rolled oats, but I wonder what your well-meaning mom tried to sell you.   I can't abide sweet cereals or gummy "quick oats".   Nor have I tolerance for breakfasts that take more than 10 minutes.

 

My solution: Old fashioned rolled oats, covered with water, microwaved for 5 to ? minutes, depending on the power of your nuker, splashed with heavy cream and good sprinkle of kosher or Maldon salt.   

 

A cousin to grits or savory porridge.  

I have never liked oatmeal because of the texture. My sister kept telling me to try overnight oat because it wasn't so slimy. I tried and it still didn't suit me. After losing my gall bladder recently, I read that oatmeal was a highly recommended food choice. I decided to try it again. I now put the oats in the dish, and just enough unsweetened almond milk to cover, let stand for an hour or so (or if I forget, I will nuke it for about 20-25 seconds, just until the milk is mostly absorbed. Then I stir in whatever I want--sometimes nuts, sometimes a little yogurt, sometimes honey, sometimes fruit. It has a little more chew to it this way and isn't slimy at all.

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Maison Rustique
typo (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I flock my Bob's Red Mill oat groats and cook them for about fifteen minutes.  That was my breakfast today.

 

[Katie Meadow]

40 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I flock my Bob's Red Mill oat groats and cook them for about fifteen minutes.  That was my breakfast today.

 

Howdy night owl! Can you explain the meaning of flock in this context? I thought oat groats were whole kernels and steel cut oats were the whole kernels that have been cut with a steel blade. I haven't cooked steel cut oats in several years but my memory is that they take about half an hour, so how can groats cook in fifteen minutes?  How do you cook your groats? I'm just talking about a pot on the stove, no appliance involved. I used to buy Scottish pinhead oats. But I simply got tired of them.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

Howdy night owl! Can you explain the meaning of flock in this context? I thought oat groats were whole kernels and steel cut oats were the whole kernels that have been cut with a steel blade. I haven't cooked steel cut oats in several years but my memory is that they take about half an hour, so how can groats cook in fifteen minutes?  How do you cook your groats? I'm just talking about a pot on the stove, no appliance involved. I used to buy Scottish pinhead oats. But I simply got tired of them.

 

Ankarsrum flocker attachment.  Put groats in one end and crushed, flattened oats come out the other.  I cook flocked oats in a tall pot on the Paragon induction unit 15 minutes stirring often.

 

...going to bed now.

 

 

[liuzhou]

I still have my mother's spurtle!

 

[Maison Rustique]

I had never heard of flocking in cooking. (I think of flocking a Christmas tree.) I learned something new this morning!

[Bernie]

Do you need a spurtle to use after a good flocking or would the spurtle detract from the the final result of the flock? 😁

(and  afterwards will i have a craving for a cigarette....)

[Katie Meadow]

After a good flocking I like a wee dram.

 

From @JoNorvelleWalker's description whatever that appliance is it turns oat groats into rolled oats. Wrong?

[Maison Rustique]

I bought these sprouted rolled oats at Costco the other day. My super quick soak does not work with  these. I am going to have to try overnight,, as they were just way too chewy.

[liuzhou]

Being half Scottish, I hate oatmeal porridge (but not oats per se).  I grew up the stuff - every morning for decades. However, now once a week I make a large batch of rice congee for breakfast. This I do overnight in my slow cooker. It lasts near on a week in the fridge with no deterioration. I take out what I need, add chopped century eggs and fry some lean pork mince and add that too then heat it up. Breakfast of champions.

 

皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pí dàn shòu ròu zhōu)

 

 

 

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

11 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

After a good flocking I like a wee dram.

 

From @JoNorvelleWalker's description whatever that appliance is it turns oat groats into rolled oats. Wrong?

 

Right.