Rice Pudding Porridge

My parents’ marriage is a marriage of opposites.

My father is a breakfast eater.  My mom is not. My mom is a night owl, my father is an early bird.

As a child, my father would get us up in the morning and make us breakfast…cream of wheat in the winter and cold cereal in the spring and fall (summertime meant hanging out with the owl, watching old movies on PBS–to this day, I can name the cast of any movie from the 30’s to the 50’s–sadly, this is not the marketable skill one would think it would be.  Meanwhile, I can’t remember where I put my keys 2 seconds ago.)

My father was the cheerful morning person who would whistle reveille if we tried to bury ourselves back under the covers, which we always did.  For the record, if I could have found the person who wrote reveille, I had a suggestion for him as to where he could keep his bugle.  But when we eventually rolled downstairs, Dad made us breakfast.

My mother, on the other hand, once came down the stairs, put the babysitter’s coat on, wished her a good night, grabbed her coffee and ran out the door like the house was on fire.  Totally not a morning person.

So in the tradition of my father, who still eats a full breakfast every morning, I came up with this brown rice pudding porridge.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1  1/2 cups water
• 1 can coconut milk

Directions: (For Hot Pot –Pressure Cooker)

1. Put the rice and water in the cooker and cook for 10 minutes on pressure cooking setting.
2. Use quick pressure release after the 10 minutes, open the pot and add the coconut milk.  Stir well to combine and mix the milk.  Cook for 10 more minutes on the same setting and use the quick pressure release again.  
3. Stir and serve.  You can add cinnamon, vanilla, fruit or even some maple syrup.
4. If you don’t eat all of it, you can refrigerate it, but you will need to add some more milk when you reheat it.  I add a splash of almond/coconut milk (unsweetened) and reheat it in a pot on the stove.  When you stir it around, it will get creamy again.

Directions: (For stovetop)

1. Put the rice and water in a pot on the stove, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes till water is mostly absorbed.
2. Add the coconut milk, stir or whisk it in well, bring the mixture to a low simmer and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Turn the mixture down, and cook on low for about 15 more minutes till the mixture is thick and creamy.
4. Serve immediately.  Add some cinnamon, fruit, or maple syrup.  Refrigerate the uneaten portion.  This will firm up in the fridge, so you will need to mix it with a splash more of milk and give it a stir to combine it, but it will make it creamy again.

Enjoy!