Breakfast Rice Porridge

For various reasons, I've been experimenting lately with cutting down on my wheat, dairy and egg consumption which has left me in a bit of a pickle over breakfast. It's no secret that breakfast is my favourite meal of the day.  I'm an inconsistent eater and will often skate through a day on two big main meals (breakfast and an early dinner) and a few snacks and thanks to the gap between dinner and morning I often wake up hungry: a delicious and filling breakfast gives me something to get out of bed for and keeps me smiling well through the morning. Don't get me wrong, Marmite on toast has its place, but I'd much rather start the day with a stack of "paleo" banana pancakes or a classic bacon and egg combo and not  have to stop at 10 for morning tea to quiet a growling tum!
Enter porridge... now, I've personally never been a big fan of porridge but after talking to my mum about the ins and outs and alternatives to oats it dawned on me that I could turn one of my favourite desserts - hearty, creamy, old fashioned English rice pudding - into a wholesome and healthy breakfast that's both eggless and actually enjoyable.
Now, I know rice porridge is not news. I've encountered traditional rice porridge, or congee, in a few forms before, most notably in unfortunately bland airline-food form on a long-haul flight.  Traditionally, congee is made with white rice and slow cooked in water, served either sweet or savoury and as a side or main component to any meal, not just breakfast.  It's also just not for me, I guess a combination of its nutritional profile and texture just doesn't suit my increasingly fussy palette.  I wanted to try creating something closer to the rice pudding I grew up with, with the texture of wholegrains and a few nutritional additions to keep me satiated all morning.

Porridge ain't porridge without a square of chocolate :)

The resulting porridge is nutty and oaty in flavour, creamy and crunchy in texture and contains enough low GI carbs, healthy fats and proteins to keep you happy until lunch at the very least. It's also gluten free, dairy free and FODMAP friendly. This recipe serves 1 very hungry person, you can of course double, triple, or half the recipe as suits you.



Caloric Warning: The recipe as written packs a hefty caloric punch of just over 500 calories. This will keep you full well through the day however if you have a weight loss goal, I'd advise omitting the PB, which will knock around 100 calories off the total.


Ingredients
1/2 cup cooked brown rice*
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water

Extras:
1 tablespoon roughly chopped almonds
1 teaspoon flaxseeds(/linseeds)
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter^

Method
Place the rice, coconut milk and water in a saucepan and heat on low until just starting to simmer, around 10 minutes.  Carefully stir in the peanut butter, then add in the rest of your "extras" and raise the heat until the porridge begins to boil and thicken, stirring to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Serve and enjoy!

Wholegrain rice porridge: gluten free, dairy free, delicious

Nutrition Information Per Serve:

Calories: 511
Fat (total): 26g

- saturated: 9g
- monounsaturated: 13g
- polyunsaturated: 3g
- trans: 0g

Carbohydrates (total): 58g

- fibre: 8g
Protein: 12g



*brown rice is a little time consuming so I will usually cook a batch of 6 servings (2 cups of rice, 2 cups of cold water in the rice cooker) and portion it up for freezing.  Rice is a sneaky common food poisoning culprit so please don't leave cooked rice hanging about in the fridge for days on end.
^I buy, and recommend, unsweetened and unsalted peanut butter.