Black Rice Porridge

Black Rice Porridge is an easy to make healthy Breakfast option. It is very suitable for busy persons those who wish a nutritious food in less time. And yes, for those who have no time for breakfast. Because it is a porridge, a thick soft food, you could have it on the go. We could make porridge in a number of ways yet healthy. In this blog, I am sharing one of the many versions of Black Rice Porridge. Let's jump into the recipe.

What is Porridge?

Porridge is a thick soft food, made from the whole grain or from its fine ground flour. In India, there are wider varieties of recipes to make a porridge. We call them in different names in different cuisines. Popular South Indian porridges includes Finger Millet Porridge (Kezhvaragu Koozh), Pearl Millet Porridge (Kamba Koozh), Rice (any variety) Porridge (Arisi Kanji), Wheat Porridge (Kodumba Kanji) etc.

Preparation methods differ according to the nature of the grain we use. For example, we just pressure cook the rice to soft mushy stage and mix it with other ingredients. For Pearl Millet Porridge, we need to soak it a while and grind to coarse semolina texture. Then we cook it. The taste differs according to the method. So, using traditional techniques in new grains or flours will be amazing.

Health Benefits of Black Rice

Black Rice or Forbidden Rice or Emperor's Rice has lots of health benefits. Few of them includes:

1. This rice has more protein, fiber and iron when compared to other widely available varieties of rice.
2. It helps in managing blood sugar levels.
3. It improves digestion and helps in weight loss.
4. This rice helps in reducing inflammation.
5. Some researches suggest that it boost immunity.

Surely, the name Emperor's Rice suggests that this rice has lot more health benefits. As we are lucky enough to get this rice in stores, we may discover recipes on it without delay.

Other versions of making Rice Porridge

1. Vendhaya Kanji: Pressure cook rice together with one or two teaspoons of fenugreek for 4 to 5 whistles (to a smooth mushy texture). As we all know that fenugreek has a lot of health benefits. But we could not eat it plain because of its bitterness. If we add it into our porridge like this, we could easily balance its bitterness.
2. Seeraga Kanji: Pressure cooking rice and a teaspoon of cumin seeds. Then add a handful of finely crushed shallots. Give it a good boil. Cumin seeds/ jeera helps in better digestion and so it is an easy way of including it in our meal.
3. Thenga Pal Kanji: Coconut milk is a good source of all vital nutrients. Add a cup of coconut milk in a cup of rice kanji is surely a whole some meal.
4. Payaru Kanji: Add any grain and green gram or moong dal in 4:1 ratio and pressure cook. Grain together with protein included in it is a whole some bowl for sure.
5. Ulundu Kanji: Add any grain and whole black gram or split or urad dal in 4:1 ratio and pressure cook. Black gram is packed with lots of nutrients together with any grain will be a simple, healthy breakfast bowl.
6. Nonbu Kanji: Rice added with dal, meat, whole masalas together with onion & tomato and cooked well to porridge texture. It is a very tasty and flavorful version of all kanji/ porridge.
7. All in One Kanji: We could make an all in one kanji - Meat Vendhaya Paruppu Kanji flavored with Jeera Topped with Coconut Milk . As innovations and discoveries are always welcome in kitchen and we could even celebrate a naming ceremony for our new ideas.

Ingredients and Substitutions

1. Black Rice: Black Rice is the base ingredient. We replace it with any variety of rice like Kerala Matta rice, Mappillai Samba (Bride Groom) Rice, Usual White Rice. Soaking time for millets varies from half an hour to 3 hours according to its hardness.
2. Cumin Seeds: A half teaspoon of cumin seeds will give a nice flavor and will help in digestion. You could replace cumins with one Elachi when you add dal and coconut milk. Don't combine elachi with curd. Because both are opposite to each other.
3. Fenugreek: Fenugreek is known for its bitter taste but it is good to health. It could help in digestion and good to our guts. You could substitute fenugreek with moong dal which will give a different taste to the porridge.
4. Garlic Cloves: Garlic cloves are also a good to have spice/ ingredient to improve digestion. Take 5 to 10 cloves.
5. Curd: Adding curd will give a nice tangy taste to our porridge. If you don't like the tanginess then you could substitute with Coconut Milk or even with ordinary milk.

How to make Black Rice Porridge?

In a pressure cooker add black rice semolina, cumin seeds, fenugreek, garlic cloves, salt and water. Cook for 4 to 5 whistles in a medium flame.

If you want a cool porridge, let the porridge to cool completely. At the time of breakfast add curd and required amount of water. If you want you may add chopped onions, green chilies, curry leaves to enhance the taste and flavor. But I simply do a plain simple version. Mix well with a whisk.

Then serve with any pickle or with any thogayal/ chammanthi. Enjoy a cool, tangy, delicious and yes healthy porridge.

Instead, if you want a hot porridge, then add milk or coconut milk into the cooked black rice porridge mixture. Adjust the consistency with water. If you are adding coconut milk, then the porridge should be in a warm stage. Otherwise the coconut milk might curdle. For porridge added with milk or coconut milk, skip adding onions and green chilis. You may flavor it with powdered Elaichi.

Note: Nutritional values are only approximate.

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