Are you Cooking Porridge the Wrong Way?
Porridge is the classic "healthy" breakfast— we can all agree with this statement, but chances are, you've been missing a very important step: Cooking the oats without let them sit in water overnight.
Although oats are a very healthy food, they contain anti-nutrients such as phytic acid and lectins. Anti-nutrients are natural components of plant foods produced as a natural mechanism of defence to inhibit digestive enzymes in insects. Because anti-nutrients interfere with the absorption of beneficial nutrients and minerals, plant-based diets high in these chemical compounds show many toxic health effects from zinc, magnesium and calcium deficiency to decrease immune system. The good news is that you don't need to cut out on eating plant foods, you just need to ensure that you cook them properly to minimise and reduce ingestion of anti-nutrients.
Here is my recipe:
You can adapt this porridge recipe to suit your taste by adding seeds and your favourite fruits and nuts.
INGREDIENTS
Base for the porridge:
3 tbsp organic gluten free oats or regular oats
5 nuts semi-ground (Use food processor)
A drizzle of honey
Water: You want to use two parts water one part dry oats.
For the topping:
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
Dried goji berries and cranberries, semi-ground nuts, honey, and cinnamon to your taste
METHOD
Sit oats in water overnight to reduce anti-nutrient content.
In the morning, make sure you rinse them in fresh water.
Bring the oats up to a boil for one minute, then add a splash of cold water and cook again for another minute until you reach an 'al dente' texture.
Before serving, drain oats and mix with the honey, ground nuts and a pinch of salt. Mix well and place in a cup.
Before placing the oat mixture into a plate, loosen the mixture with a little more water if needed. Then top up with the yogurt, goji berries and cranberries, a drizzle of honey, cinnamon and ground nuts.
Then let it chill for 5 minutes before eating.
Et voilà!
