Khichdas/khichdras are thick legume-and-grain porridges. This one contains wheat, rice, pigeon peas, and yellow split peas. They also generally contain beef, goat, or both. This one just contains a relatively small amount of beef, but I think that goat would also be excellent in it (either instead or as well).

This was one of those almost "too simple" recipes that made me a little nervous. Because while it contains a lot of legumes and grains, it doesn't have that much in the way of seasonings. It's mostly just cumin. Cumin, ginger, and garlic. And a little cilantro and coriander. But that's not a whole lot to hang your curry on! No asafetida. Not even any turmeric! But, honestly, it was still great! Even with the limited spices. And the beef came out ultra-tender!

While I won't go so far as to say this is a new "favourite", it was very good. It may not be as tasty as some of the other curries in the book, but it has an impressive tastiness-to-effort ratio! And it's also very cheap to make. The most expensive ingredient is the beef. And you only need half a kilo of that. And cheap stewing beef works just fine. So you don't need to spend a lot of money on the meat for it. And, other than that, it's dried legumes, rice, and wheat! All very affordable ingredients. And it makes a huge amount. So it's a great dish for feeding a hungry crowd.

Khichda

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. cracked wheat
• 6 c. water
• 1/2 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toovar dal)
• 1/2 c. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 1/2 c. long-grain rice¹
• 500g stewing beef
• 1/2 c. chile-ginger paste²
• 2 Tbsp. dhania-jeera masala
• 1-2 tsp. black cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds³ (optional)
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/4 c. ghee
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse and drain the wheat thoroughly.
2. Add it to the water and allow to stand at room temperature for 6-8 hours.
3. Add the wheat and its soaking water to a slow cooker or InstantPot.
4. Add the pigeon peas, yellow peas, rice, beef, chile-ginger paste, masala, black cumin (and additional regular cumin, if using), and 1 tsp. of the salt.
5. Either slow cook on "low" for 6-8 hours or pressure cook on "high" for 1 hour. If pressure cooking, allow for a 15-minute natural release. When the khichda is done, the grains should be very soft and the beef extremely tender. The consistency should be similar to congee/jook.
6. Once the porridge is ready, heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
7. Add the cumin and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
8. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, and cook for a minute or two.
9. Add the garlic-y ghee and the remaining 1 tsp. of salt to the khichda and stir to mix.
10. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

---

¹ Iyer calls for long-grain white rice specifically. I reasoned that, given how long it cooks for, there's no reason why I couldn't use brown rice instead. So I tossed 1/2 c. of brown basmati into my khichda. It worked great! Would definitely do it that way again in future. ^Back
2 I use chile-ginger paste rarely enough that I don't bother keeping it on hand. For this recipe I just tossed 1/2 c. of store-bought ginger paste into the blender with 6 fresh green finger chilies and gave that a whiz. It did the job and saved me trying to find room for another jar in the fridge. ^Back
3 I find black cumin quite strong and don't like excessive amounts of it. Neither does TF. So when recipes call for blak cumin, I tend to scale it back a bit. For this one, I cut the black cumin back to 1 tsp. and then added an extra tsp. of regular cumin to compensate. ^Back

Moong Dal Kichidi (Rice-Lentil Porridge)

At this point we've made all of the pulaos and fried rice recipes in the curry book, so I decided to try this "kichidi" instead. I'd never had a kichidi before, but it seems very similar to pongal, another Indian rice-lentil porridge. They are so similar in fact, that I decided to Google around to try to find out what differentiates them.

Both these dishes are savoury, Indian porridges commonly made from rice and moong dal and often eaten for breakfast. But, having read up on them a bit, I now feel like I have a better handle on what distinguishes them from each other.

First of all, pongals are specifically a south Indian dish while kichidis can be found all over India. And, while pongals are sometimes eaten for dinner, they seem to be mostly considered a breakfast food. Meanwhile, kichidis can be eaten for any meal of the day.

Pongals, in addition to being more geographically restricted, also seem to be more restricted in their ingredients. They are always based on rice and moong dal (skinned split mung beans). While kichidis may feature that pair as their primary ingredients (as this one does), there are a plethora of variants using both different legumes and different grains/starches. Kichidis will also often include vegetables (usually tomatoes and onions and sometimes other vegetables as well), while pongals generally do not. Interestingly, despite this huge range of ingredients, it is pongals and not kichidis who can also come in a sweet form with jaggery and dried fruit in place of the spices and ginger.

And while Iyer calls for turmeric in both his kichidi and pongal recipes, apparently pongal tends to have less turmeric than kichidi on average and be a little less vibrantly yellow.

Other than that, the main difference seems to be the typical accompaniments. Pongal is traditionally eaten with sambhar (although it can certainly work well along-side other curries as well¹). Meanwhile, kichidis -- being more varied in general -- might go with any number of things, but chutneys, pickles, yogurt, and/or papads are some common choices. While vegetable stir-fries are often served with some of the drier, less porridge-y kichidis.

For this particular porridge, Iyer suggests that its ideal companion would be kheema mutter. And, while I do think that would have been delicious, that's not what I ended up doing.

Since I had both kidney beans and eggplant that needed to be used up, I decided to make katarikai goshtu and dahiwaale rajmah instead. Both curries that I hadn't tried yet, would use up the ingredients in question, and seemed reasonably easy to prepare. (I also ended up making a pasta "curry" to use up some arugula, but since that has its own starchy substrate built in, I don't really consider it an accompaniment to the kichidi; it's its own self-contained thing.)

Anyway, the kichidi turned out pleasantly well. It wasn't super flavourful on its own (although the ghee and cumin were nice), but it made a nice backdrop for the various curries it was served with. That said, I think I would like to try adding some tomatoes and onions next time. And probably some chilies as well. Just to give it a little more... presence. And maybe dial back the ghee a bit. Not that it isn't delicious, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to get more deliciousness from vegetables and spices and hopefully be able to rely less on deliciousness from concentrated fat!

So, with that in mind, here is the recipe as I made it, plus a bonus variant with some suggested edits.

Moong Dal Kichidi

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split green lentils/mung beans (moong dal)
• 1 c. long-grain white rice
• 4 c. cold water
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 4 c. boiling water, divided
• 3 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds

Directions

1. Rinse the dal thoroughly.
2. Add the dal and rice to a pot with the cold water.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and skim off and discard any foam that forms on the surface.
4. Add the salt and turmeric.
5. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until most of the water has been absorbed (~10 minutes).
6. Pour in 1 c. of boiling water and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until that water has also been absorbed (~10 more minutes). Repeat until all the water has been used.
7. Heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
8. Add the cumin to the hot ghee and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
9. Pour the hot ghee and cumin into the porridge and stir to combine.
10. Serve with pickles, chutney, yogurt, papads, and/or your favourite curries.

---

Variants

InstantPot Vegetable Kichidi

Adapted from 660 Curries and Indian Healthy Recipes

Ingredients

• 2-3 Tbsp. ghee, divided
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, divided
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/8 tsp. ground asafetida
• 1 tsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala or bottle masala (optional)
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, serrano, or finger chilies, minced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. green peas (optional)
• 1 c. skinned split green lentils/mung beans (moong dal)
• 1 c. long-grain white rice
• 6-8 c. water

Directions

1. Rinse the dal very well and set aside.
2. Heat 1-2 Tbsp. of the ghee on sauté medium.
3. Add 1 tsp. of the cumin seeds and bay leaves and sizzle for 20-30 seconds.
4. Add the asafetida and masala (if using) give it a quick stir.
5. Add the ginger paste and stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.
6. Add the onion and chili and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes.
7. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, and salt and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
8. If using peas, add them now and cook for ~2 minutes.
9. Add the dal and stir-fry for ~4 minutes. (Or toast the dal in a dry pan in advance.)
10. Add the rice and water² and stir once or twice.
11. Pressure cook high for 8 minutes. Allow a 15-minute natural release.
12. Heat 1 Tbsp. of ghee over medium-high heat and add the remaining 2 tsp. of cumin seeds.
13. Sizzle the cumin for 10-20 seconds, then add the hot ghee and cumin to the porridge and stir once or twice.
14. Serve as above, with your choice of yogurt, pickles, chutneys, papads, curries, and/or stir-fries.

---

¹ Iyer suggests serving the ven pongal in his book with aviyal and katarikai goshtu. ^Back
2 Use the lesser amount for a drier porridge and greater amount for a looser, more soupy porridge. ^Back

I posted a different recipe for congee a couple years back. However, as noted in the original recipe, there are a lot of different ways to make congee. I did up a slightly different take on congee recently. It's still the same basic concept, but I decided to write it up anyway. As before, this is a very flexible recipe, so do with it what you will.

For this particular congee incarnation, I started with a cooked chicken and made the stock from scratch, so I've included those instructions below. You can, of course, use store-bought stock or even water. Pork bones also work well. Follow your heart!

Chicken Congee

Ingredients

Broth

• 1 whole cooked chicken
• 2-4 c. vegetable peelings and scraps¹
• 3L water
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 (7-8cm) cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• small knob of fresh ginger

Congee

• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1/4 c. short-grain white rice²
• 2-3 Tbsp. dried goji berries
• Broth from above
• 1/4 of the meat from the chicken
• salt, to taste
• white pepper, to taste

Toppings

• sesame oil
• chopped fresh cilantro
• chopped dry-roasted peanuts
• toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Broth

1. Remove the chicken meat from the bones and reserve both the meat and carcass separately.
2. Combine the chicken carcass with all the other broth ingredients in InstantPot (or in a pot on the stove) and slow cook on "high" for 2-3 hours.
3. Strain the broth and discard the solids.

Congee

1. While the broth is cooking, soak the rice. Place in a bowl with enough water to cover for 30 minutes, then drain and set aside.
2. Place all the congee ingredients in InstantPot (or in a pot on the stove) and simmer for 1-2 hours depending on what texture and consistency you prefer. You may want to cook it either partially or fully uncovered for some of the time (again, depending on your preferred consistency).
3. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and white pepper.

Serving

1. To serve, top each portion with a drizzle of sesame oil, then place the peanuts, cilantro, and sesame seeds on top.
2. If desired, sriracha or Laoganma can be added to give a hit of spiciness.
3. Other toppings may be added or substituted. Popular choices include: fried wontons/noodles, chopped scallions/green onions, sprouts, microgreens, and/or sautéed mushrooms. Salted duck eggs and century eggs are also popular congee inclusions.

---

¹ I often save vegetable scraps and peels and toss them in a large Ziploc bag in the freezer. When the bag gets full, I toss them in the InstantPot with some water and seasonings (and possibly bones of some sort) and slow cook for a few hours until I have a delicious stock. This time I think my bag contained onion, garlic, bell pepper, ginger, carrot, pink oyster mushroom and lion's mane mushroom (courtesy of Noki Farms), and possibly a few other things as well. If you don't have any vegetable scraps handy, then feel free to just toss in some onions, carrots, mushrooms, and whatever else seems tasty. ^Back
2 I was originally planning to make this congee with only brown rice but, after cooking for a little over an hour, the consistency was still more like rice soup with a clear broth than what I expect for congee. I added the short-grain rice to see if the extra starch would help thicken it up. I also cooked it with the lid off for a little bit. I'm not sure if it was the extra rice or the extra cooking or the time with the lid off that did the trick but, at the end of another hour, it was looking much better! ^Back

I bought a bag of quinoa ages ago, just to try it out. But I just never quite got around to using it. I've since discovered some quinoa dishes that I really like. But even so, I never seem to end up making them at home.

I did apparently use a least a little out of the bag at some point because when I went to get it out of the pantry, I found that it had already been opened. But I can't have used very much, because the bag is still basically full.

Anyway, I found this breakfast quinoa recipe and figured it was worth trying out. It's pretty similar to oatmeal or cog or any other sweet breakfast porridge, just made with quinoa instead of oats or corn. If nothing else, it uses up a bit more of my quinoa supply!

In the end, I think sweet quinoa is not for me. I like it better as a savoury salad than as a sweet porridge. It's fine. It's not bad. It's just not my jam. I'll stick to oats and corn and rice for my morning slurries. But, if you're big on quinoa and don't have the same biases as me, this is probably worth giving a go.

Breakfast Quinoa

Slightly adapted from Modern Proper

Ingredients

• 400mL lite coconut milk
• 100mL water
• 1 c. quinoa, rinsed
• ~2 Tbsp. unsweetened dried shredded coconut
• ~2 Tbsp. sliced almonds
• 1 c. frozen (or fresh) mixed berries
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine the coconut milk and water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. (You can rinse the quinoa while waiting for the water to boil.)
2. Add the quinoa and allow to return to boil.
3. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15-20 minutes.
4. While quinoa is cooking, toast the coconut and almonds in a dry pan over medium heat.
5. Once quinoa is tender and most of the liquid is gone, stir in the berries, maple syrup, and cinnamon.
6. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
7. Top with toasted coconut and almonds and serve.

Ven Pongal (Rice-Lentil Porridge)

There are loads of different pongal recipes out there. Pongal can be sweet or savoury and include any number of different flavours and ingredients. Sometimes it might be fairly plain, other times if may include all sorts of vegetables, nuts, or even fruit! Ven pongal is one of the savoury versions, but even within that, there can be a huge amount of variation. Ginger, curry leaves, and whole (or coarsely crushed) black peppercorns seem to be common to most (possibly all) ven pongal recipes, but everything else is open to adjustment and interpretation: proportion of rice to lentils, amount of water, other seasonings, amount of ghee, inclusion of cashews or other nuts... There are a lot of options!

I found Iyer's version okay. But I thik I'd like to try one of the cashew-full recipes next time. I was also slightly disappointed by the consistency of this pongal, but that's not really Iyer's fault. I adjusted the quantity of water called for down because I was doing it in the pressure cooker rather than on the stovetop. Apparently I adjusted it down too much. Now that I've looked at some other recipes (ones that were written for pressure cookers) I'm thinking I probably should've just used the full amount of water called for in the original recipe. (If I were making it on the stove, I might even end up using more water than called for.

My too-dry pongal still came out tasting nice. It's just a bit dense and heavy. I would've preferred something with more of a porridge-y, risotto-y consistency. Hopefully the extra water will help me out there the next time I try to make this.

Ven Pongal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. skinned split green lentils/mung beans (moong/mung dal)
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 3 c. water
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2-4 Tbsp. ghee, divided
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 3 (40mm x 20mm x 3mm) slices of ginger, julienned
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 15 fresh (or frozen) curry leaves

Directions

1. Rinse the lentils and rice.
2. Add rinsed rice and lentils to pressure cooker/InstantPot along with water, salt, and turmeric.
3. Pressure cook (on high pressure for InstantPot) for 18 minutes with a 10-minute natural release.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1-2 Tbsp. of ghee over medium-high heat.
5. Add cumin seeds and pepper corns and cook for 30-60 seconds.
6. Transfer spices and ghee to a mortar and lightly crush with a pestle.
7. Heat the remaining 1-2 Tbsp. of ghee over medium-high heat.
8. Add the ginger and cook until aromatic (15-30 seconds).
9. Toss in the cilantro and curry leaves (carefully) and then remove from heat and set it aside.
10. Once the porridge is ready, stir in both ghee mixtures.
11. Serve with yogurt, pickles, and/or additional ghee.

Steel-Cut Oatmeal

I've posted recipes for both baked and stove-top steel-cut oatmeal before. It's been a while though and I've tweaked some of the recipes. I figured it'd probably be good to write an updated post and try to collect all the various flavours and variations in one place.

Peaches and Cream Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 1 (3") cinnamon stick
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. milk
• 1/4 c. vanilla sugar + a few empty vanilla pods
• 1 c. diced peaches

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium-high heat.
2. Add the oats and cinnamon and toast for a few minutes.
3. Add water and milk and bring to a boil.
4. Stir in sugar, vanilla pods, and peaches.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes or until desired consistency. (It will thicken slightly as it cools.)
6. Serve topped with peach jam and heavy cream.

Cherry-Almond Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. slivered almonds
• 1 (3") cinnamon stick
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar
• 1 c. sweet cherries, pitted and quartered

Directions

1. Toast almonds and cinnamon stick over medium heat until almonds are just starting to get a bit of colour.
2. Add butter.
3. Once butter is melted, add oats and increase heat to medium-high. Toast oats for a few minutes until they begin to smell nutty.
4. Add water.
5. Stir in honey, cinnamon sugar, and cherries.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes or until desired consistency. (It will thicken slightly as it cools.)

Cherry-Coconut Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. sliced almonds
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened dried coconut
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 4 c. water
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. sweet cherries, pitted and quartered
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract

Directions

1. As above, but wait until oatmeal is off heat to stir in extracts.
2. Serve as is or topped with a few squares of dark chocolate.

Apple-Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 apples, diced
• 2 (3") cinnamon sticks
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. raisins

Directions

1. As above, adding the apples and cinnamon sticks along with the oatmeal.
2. Serve sprinkled topped with heavy cream and a little cinnamon sugar or a touch of extra brown sugar.

Peanut Butter and Jam Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 4 c. water
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. peanut flour
• 1 c. sliced strawberries
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. As above, stirring in the vanilla after the oatmeal is off heat.
2. Serve topped with a little peanut butter and strawberry jam.

Tropical Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. unsweetened dried coconut
• 1 (3") cinnamon stick
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/3 c. sweetened condensed coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/16 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. As above, stirring in vanilla extract once oatmeal is off heat.
2. Serve topped with cinnamon sugar and pineapple and/or extra mango.

Mulled Apple Cider Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 apple, diced
• 3 (3") cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 star anise
• 5 cloves
• 1/4 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1 blade of mace
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. apple cider
• 2 Tbsp. chopped prunes
• 1 Tbsp. candied orange peel
• 3 Tbsp. jaggery

Directions

1. Follow the usual procedure of toasting the oats in the butter, adding the spices along with the oats.
2. Add the water, fruit, and jaggery and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Serve topped with apple pie filling or, if you have some cider left over, make a reduction, stirring in a bit of butter and sugar at the end of cooking and top your oatmeal with that!

Banana Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. spiced rum
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium-high heat.
2. Add oats and toast for a few minutes.
3. Add banana and brown sugar and cook for a minute or two.
4. Add water and rum and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.
6. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
7. Serve topped with crushed banana chips and caramel sauce or dulce de leche.

Cranberry-Orange Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 (3") cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. orange juice
• 2 Tbsp. candied orange peel
• 1/3 c. dried cranberries
• 1/3 c. fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1/4 c. vanilla sugar

Directions

1. Follow the usual procedure.
2. Serve topped with cranberry sauce and/or marmalade.

Jook/Congee

I've been in a big breakfast rut lately. The problem is that I like lots of variety but also minimum effort. I'm not a morning person and I'm way too groggy first thing in the morning to actually do much in the way of cooking. This presents something of a problem.

Lately, I've been craving congee -- or jook, depending on where you're from -- for breakfast. I like the idea of something warm and savoury and comforting that isn't eggs. (Nothing against eggs, I just don't normally feel like actually cooking them for breakfast.) I flipped through a few different recipes before settling on what I was going to do for this batch.

My first stop was Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking where I took a look at her recipe for bak jook or "white congee" and suggested accompaniments. This is a simple porridge of short-grain and glutinous white rice and water. All the seasonings and condiments are added at the table. She suggests salted (duck) eggs, fried peanuts, and fried noodles.

Next, I took a look at a short YouTube video featuring a jook with "lots of vegetables". It suggested including green onions, garlic, ginger, jalapeños, chicken, cabbage, snow peas, green beans, soy sauce, and sesame oil in your jook. They also made their version with brown, rather than white rice and topped it with cilantro.

And last, but not least, I had a gander at Budget Byte$ InstantPot jook recipe. They included garlic, ginger, chicken, shiitake mushrooms, and salt in their jook, which used jasmine rice as its base. And for toppings, they went with green onions, cilantro, chopped peanuts, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Those three recipes gave me a pretty good base to work from to create my own custom congee tailored to my tastes. I ended up using short-grain brown rice as the base and using a mix of vegetable broth and water for the liquid component. I followed the suggestion of including some aromatics and mushrooms and added some green vegetables (based on what was on sale at the grocery store) right at the end of cooking. Condiment-wise, I went with fried onions, sesame seeds, fried noodles, light soy sauce, and Laoganma (spicy chili crisp). There would've been fried peanuts as well if I hadn't burned them. And hard-boiled eggs if I hadn't forgotten them.

InstantPot Jook

Adapted from Budget Byte$ (and a couple others)

Ingredients

• 1 c. short-grain brown rice
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2.5cm (1") knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 200-250g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 6-8 pieces dried black fungus, crumbled
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 5 c. water
• 50g pea shoots (or other vegetable of choice)
• 170-200g snow peas (or other vegetable of choice), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2-3 scallions, sliced

Condiments¹ (Optional)

• Laoganma (spicy chili crisp)
• sesame seeds (preferably toasted)
• chopped peanuts
• light soy sauce
• fried onions
• fried noodles
• boiled eggs (hard or soft)
• salted eggs²
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Measure rice into InstantPot.
2. Place garlic and ginger on top, along with fresh and dried mushrooms.
3. Add vegetable broth and water.
4. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.
5. Leave on "keep warm" until ready to serve³.
6. About 5-10 minutes before serving, stir in the pea shoots, snow peas, and scallions.
7. Serve with whatever condiments you prefer.

This is an incredibly flexible recipe. Feel free to vary, increase, or reduce the inclusions based on what you find appealing or what's available and/or on sale.
Other inclusions that I think might go well:

• cabbage, shredded
• Brussels sprouts, quartered
• bok choy (especially Shanghai bok choy)
• gai lan
• broccolini
• carrots, grated
• sugar snap peas (mangetouts)
• tofu
• shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
• dried black mushrooms⁴

---

¹ I didn't end up using all of these condiments. This is just a list of suggestions and ideas. Feel free to mix-and-match as you see fit. ^Back
2 You can buy salted duck eggs but Eileen Yin-Fei Lo advises against this. She recommends making your own at home. I haven't tried this yet. I'll do a write-up if when I do. In the meantime, I'm happy with adding plain (unsalted) hard-boiled eggs to my congee. ^Back
3 You can cook your congee the night before and just leave it on "keep warm" overnight. ^Back
4 Not to be confused with "black fungus". Black mushrooms look like pretty typical mushrooms and rehydrate to a chewy texture. Black fungus, meanwhile, is a shelf fungus, if I remember correctly. Its form factor is more of a thin, crinkly sheet, black on top and white/cream on the underside. It rehyrates into slippery sheets that are normally julienned to make thin, jelly-tough, wobbly matchsticks. If I forget to rehydrate my black fungus ahead of time, I just crumble it and mix it into the liquid component of whatever I'm cooking. ^Back

Peaches and Cream Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Oatmeal is really flexible. You can take your base of oat porridge and add just about any flavours you want to it. I like to use the Steel-Cut Oatmeal recipe from Cook's Country. (Although sometimes I'll swap out my steel-cut oats for rolled oats if I want something super quick.) They posted this peaches and "cream" variant with the original recipe and, now that I've had a chance to try it, I figured I'd do a write-up.

Peaches and Cream Oatmeal

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2016

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 3 c. water
• 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. thawed frozen peaches
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. light (5%) cream (optional)

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add oats and toast, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add water and milk and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for ~20 minutes.
5. Stir in salt, peaches, honey, and vanilla.
6. Serve immediately, with ~1 Tbsp. of cream added to each bowl, if desired.

Cog

Cog (or pop) is a cornmeal-based breakfast porridge. The procedure and ratios are nearly identical to polenta, but the flavour profile is very different. I quite like it as a warm and comforting alternative to oatmeal. (I still love my oatmeal, but sometimes I am just not feeling the oats.)

As with polenta, cog wants a 4-5:1 ratio of liquids to cornmeal. The difference is that you replace some of the water with coconut milk and then season it with things like cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and sweeten it with condensed milk. Instead of serving it topped with sausages or a hearty ragu, it's generally topped with fresh fruit (or just eaten on its own). I also tend to cook my cog just a bit less than polenta and serve it slightly thinner. Whereas polenta should have a sort of "soft scrambled egg" texture, I like my cog to have a "very thick gravy or soup" consistency. Not quite "stand a spoon in it" thick, but not exactly runny either.

I had been hoping to post a pressure cooker/Instant Pot cog recipe today but, as it turns out, my Instant Pot method still needs a little tweaking. So, instead, I'll give you the stove top recipe that I have used with great success in the past.

Cog
Adapted from African Bites
1 c. cornmeal
2 c. lite coconut milk
2 c. water
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk + more for serving
fresh fruit (optional)

1. Combine cornmeal, coconut milk, water, cinnamon stick, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil, whisking often.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cog reaches desired consistency.
3. Stir in nutmeg, vanilla, and condensed milk.
4. Serve as is or topped with fruit and/or additional condensed milk.

Overnight Oatmeal

I can't remember exactly where I first heard about chia "pudding", but I know it's definitely not a new thing. Honestly, it never really appealed to me. Sure, it's easy and maybe I should've given it a chance, but it just didn't sound that good to me. I just felt like the texture would be off-putting. So I never tried it. And it never really occurred to me to use chia for anything else.

Then I came across a few "overnight oatmeal" recipes. I assumed it was some sort of slow cooked crockpot concoction like I'd seen once or twice before. But no! Uncooked oatmeal thickened with chia. Interesting... That I might actually be able to get behind.

I've tried a few similar versions so far. I'm still tweaking it, but I like the results so far!

Mixed Berry Oatmeal
1/2 c. quick oats
1/2 c. mixed berries
1 tsp. chia seeds
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. vanilla almond milk

Brownie Batter Oatmeal
1/2 c. quick oats
1 Tbsp. Nutella
1 tsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. chia seeds
1 tsp. maple syrup
2 cherries, chopped (next time I'd use 4)
1 Tbsp. chopped hazelnuts
1/2 Tbsp. chocolate chips
2/3 c. vanilla almond milk

Apple Blueberry Oatmeal
1/2 c. quick oats
~3/8 c. apple pie filling (preferably homemade)
~3/8 c. blueberries
1 tsp. chia seeds
1 tsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. wheat bran
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. vanilla almond milk

These all follow pretty much the same procedure. Just mix everything together in a mason jar or somesuch, stir it up, and pop it in the fridge overnight. The brownie batter one called for using the nuts, berries, and chocolate chips as a topping, but I think I'd just mix everything together next time.

The mixed berry one called for a whole cup of milk and was quite tasty, but a bit watery. The brownie batter one called for quite a bit less milk, but came out just a bit too thick. The latest attempt is just chilling in the fridge now, but I'm thinking that 3/4 c. is going to be just about right.

Morning Glory Porridge

I've been playing around with this recipe and tweaking it over the past couple of weeks. I tried it with steel-cut oats yesterday and I'm really pleased with the results.

Morning Glory Porridge
1/4 c. dried coconut
1/4 c. nuts (I used slivered almonds and raw cashews, but chopped walnuts would also work well)
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 c. steel-cut oats
2 c. water
1 carrot, grated
1/4 c. raisins
2 Tbsp. wheat bran
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce



1. Toast coconut, nuts, cinnamon stick, and oats with butter.
2. Add water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce to a simmer and add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Carrot Muffin Oatmeal

I kept feeling like I was forgetting something as I was making this, but I couldn't think what. Alas it was cinnamon! I'll definitely be trying a few variations on this in the future though, so I can try to remember the cinnamon then. So, here's what I did this time, and I'll follow it with an idea for a variant to try next time as well.

Carrot Muffin Oatmeal
Adapted from allrecipes
2 1/2 c. water
1 packet dried fruit and nuts
1 carrot, grated
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
dash salt
1 c. quick oats

1. Combine all ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
2. Serve immediately with cold milk and/or maple syrup and/or additional sugar.

Morning Glory Oatmeal
1/4 c. dried coconut, toasted
1 cinnamon stick
2 1/2 c. water
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
2 carrots, grated
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. dried pineapple
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
1/4 c. wheat bran (optional)
1 c. quick oats

Strawberry-Peanut Butter Oatmeal

Just a variation on the same steel-cut oatmeal porridge I wrote up a few weeks ago.

Strawberry-Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Adapted from Cook's Country
1 1/2 tsp. butter
1/2 c. steel-cut oats
2 c. water
generous 1/2 c. chopped strawberries
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 c. sliced almonds

1. Toast oats in butter over medium heat until nutty and delicious.
2. Add water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally until desired consistency.
4. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Stove-Top Steel-Cut Oatmeal

My mom used to make porridge with apples and raisins in the mornings before school when I was little. I still make it every once in a while, but I'm usually in too much of a hurry to bother with the stove. It works pretty well with quick oats and water from the kettle, but stove-top is always better.

I've always used either quick oats or (old-fashioned) rolled oats for my baking and porridge needs. I've heard good things about steel-cut, but I've always been a bit intimidated by them. Besides, with the grains being more intact, I wasn't sure if steel-cut oats would make a nice creamy porridge like I like. I was worried it'd be hard little oat nuggets suspended in a watery "broth". So, when I saw this Cook's Country recipe that specifically called for steel-cut oats (and promised creamy, delicious results) I had to give it a try!

Steel-Cut Oatmeal
Cook's Country December/January 2015/2016
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 c. steel-cut oats
4 c. water
1/2 c. raisins
1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Add oats and toast, stirring constantly for ~2 minutes.
3. Stir in water and bring to a boil over high heat.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the raisins while the oats simmer to allow them to plump up in the hot water.
5. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.

This makes way more porridge than I need to feed just me and the toddlebot in the morning, so I think next time I'll halve the recipe. I'd also add some chopped apple and a bit more cinnamon for added fruity goodness (and also a bit of nostalgia).

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 c. steel-cut oats
1 apple, peeled and chopped
2 c. water
1/4 c. raisins
1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

As above, but toast the apple pieces with the oats before adding the water.

Steel-cut oatmeal is definitely a different experience from rolled oatmeal. The grains do stay more distinct and a little firmer. But the porridge still gets nice and creamy, not the watery broth that I'd feared. It's sort of like a sweet, oat-based risotto. Different, but still quite tasty. I'm excited to try more variations in the future.