Oatmeal is the best idea for a tasty and nutritious breakfast that will give you energy for long hours. What’s more – it never gets boring, because depending on the season of the year you can serve it with various additions: seasonal fruit, nuts, honey, and actually – whatever your heart desires! How to prepare oatmeal?
Types of oat flakes
Depending on how the grain is processed, there are several types of oat flakes:
- regular – obtained from whole grains,
- highlander – obtained from chopped grain,
- instant – from chopped grain and subjected to special hydrothermal treatment
The type of flakes depends on the cooking time, we cook the flakes the shortest. You can also pour boiling water over them. Remember – we cook oats on low heat, stirring, because they easily stick to the bottom of the pot. The best, full-fledged porridge with the perfect consistency is prepared from regular or mountain oat flakes – this porridge will retain its structure and will not turn into an unappetizing mush.
How long to cook oatmeal
Cooking porridge is not difficult if you follow a few simple rules proven during millennia of cooking oat gruel:
- Pour the flakes with cold liquid (water or milk) at least 30 minutes before cooking, and preferably at night,
- we add a pinch of salt to the liquid, which will release the sweetness of the flakes,
- soaked flakes bring to a boil,
- we cook 5 minutes after boiling,
- remove from heat and leave for 5 minutes.
The basic recipe for porridge is quite simple. Boil the flakes according to the instructions and then add your favorite additions. Bananas, raspberries, apples, peanut butter and super foods. It all depends on you.
Porridge Recipes
Night porridge with banana
Cook: 1 ripe banana, half a cup of oatmeal;
1 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoons unsalted peanut butter;
1/3 cup milk
In a medium-sized bowl, mash the banana, then transfer the prepared pulp to a small glass jar. Add oatmeal, peanut butter and almond milk to the crushed banana, mix the whole. You can decorate the porridge with nuts or chia seeds. Put in the fridge overnight. In the morning just take out the ready porridge and enjoy a delicious, quick breakfast.
Baked porridge with fruit
It is a warm alternative to classic porridge for colder days. You can use any fruit, e.g. seasonal, to prepare it. It will take you more time than the classic, so it’s a good idea for a Saturday breakfast.
Heat the oven to 180 C. Smear the baking sticks with butter. Mix together oatmeal and any spices such as cinnamon or vanilla sugar. Also add bran or granola. Then mix together milk (it doesn’t have to be cow’s), egg, oil and sugar. Mix everything together. You can put raisins or dried cranberries on the bottom of the ramekins. Put half the prepared oat mass. Then add your favorite fruit (they can be frozen) and as a last layer lay out the rest of the oat mass and decorate with fruit. Bake for 15-20 minutes. You can serve porridge prepared with Greek yogurt.
