OAT AND RAGI PORRIDGE WITH PUMPKIN-SEED CREAM

Serves 2

Great for all seasons Suits all dosha types

This plant-based oatmeal celebrates and elevates the humble porridge, also lifting digestibility and adding a little textural balance. We tend to adjust our milks to our mood and disposition: cooling coconut milk will help soothe a summer temper, while at other times we feel drawn to almond or hemp milk.

As we vary the milks, we can also alternate the spices, grains, and seeds used in the cream. Here, we use soaked oats and ragi or “finger millet”, but sometimes it may be rolled millet or quinoa; sunflower, sesame or flax cream; nutmeg, rose or ginger in place of the cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon or clove.

This is a bit of an “insert how you feel here” kind of a recipe. With variety, we widen the scope of nature’s beneficence, better spice our lives and avoid any dreary sense of same old, same old. As we incorporate more, we may start to realize that our bodies know best what they need and that intuition and care will lead us to beautiful places if we tune in. Pretty good for a simple porridge!

200g/1⅓ cup rolled oats – soaked overnight and rinsed well

2 tbsp ragi flour (milled “finger millet”)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground clove

Enough plant-based milk of your choice – coconut, hemp or almond – to cover your ingredients

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds – soaked overnight and rinsed well – plus a handful for toasting and sprinkling

The seeds from 2 green cardamom pods

1 vanilla pod

Organic maple syrup, to taste

Add your oats, ragi flour, cinnamon and clove to a saucepan, cover with your milk and gently begin to cook on a low heat. As your oats swell, stir and add a little more milk as necessary for the desired consistency. Simmer gently for around 10 minutes.

For the pumpkin-seed cream, add your seeds to a high-performance food processor or coffee/spice grinder, then add your cardamom seeds. Slice your vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the black seeds into the food processor with the point of a knife. Add a splash of water and pulse until you have a smooth seed butter. Add a little more water bit by bit and pulse to the texture of a thick cream.

In a dry pan, gently toast a handful of pumpkin seeds until they colour slightly. Ladle your porridge into bowls, add a generous peak of your pumpkin seed cream, scatter your toasted seeds on top and drape with maple syrup. Grab a spoon and enjoy your dish slowly and mindfully.