Porridge[1] is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal, or it can be mixed with spices, meat, or vegetables to make a savoury dish. It is usually served hot in a bowl, depending on its consistency. Oat porridge, or oatmeal, is one of the most common types of porridge. Gruel is a thinner version of porridge and congee is a savoury variation of porridge of Asian origin.
Type of grains
Cooked oatmeal in a bowl
The term "porridge" is used in Britain and Ireland specifically for oatmeal. This is a hot mixture of oatmeal or oats slowly cooked with water or milk.[2] It is typically eaten for breakfast by itself or with other ingredients, including salt, sugar, fruit, milk, cream, or butter.
Other grains used for porridge include rice, wheat (cracked wheat porridge is also known as frumenty), barley, corn, triticale and buckwheat. Many types of porridge have their own names, such as congee (rice), polenta (maize) and poi (from Taro).[2]
Conventional uses
Porridge can be eaten for any meal of the day. Porridge is eaten in many cultures around the world as a common snack or breakfast, including by athletes.[3][4][5]
Cir, păsat or (when firmer) mămăligă are all Romanian maize porridges.
Colada, a hot dish prepared with corn starch, milk, sugar and cinnamon in Colombia and Ecuador.
Cornmealmush, a traditional dish in southern and mid-Atlantic US states.
Cornmeal porridge (parrige), a traditional dish served for breakfast throughout the Caribbean and among Rastafarians. A blend of fine semolina with milk or water and often with all spice and sugar.
Farina or papilla, a traditional Dominican dish of porridge maize or grass peas.
Gofio, a Canary Islands porridge of toasted coarse-ground maize. Made from roasted sweetcorn and other grains (e.g., wheat, barley or oats), used in many ways in parts of the world from which Canary Islanders have emigrated.
Grits, ground hominy, is common in the southern United States, traditionally served with butter, salt and black pepper. Sometimes, it is also served with cheese.
, which was traditionally drunk out of a hollowed-out gourd at early morning, especially coming from a hunting or drinking trip.
Suppawn, also called, and better known as, hasty pudding, was common in American colonial times and consisted of cornmeal boiled with milk into a thick porridge. Still eaten in modern times, it is no longer necessarily corn-based.
Uji, a thick East African porridge made most commonly from corn flour mixed with sorghum and many other different ground cereals, with milk or butter and sugar or salt.
nshima in Zambia, tuwo or ogi in Nigeria, etc., though some of these may also be made from sorghum
.
Žganci, a maize porridge prepared in the Kajkavian counties of Croatia and in Slovenia.
Oatmeal with raisins, butter, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, brown sugar, and shredded coconutOat porridge, traditional and common in the English-speaking world, Germany and the Nordic countries.[13] Oat porridge has been found in the stomachs of 5,000-year-old Neolithicbog bodies in Central Europe and Scandinavia.[14] Varieties of oat porridge include:
Groats
, a porridge made from unprocessed oats or wheat.
Gruel, very thin porridge, often drunk rather than eaten.
Yod Kerc'h, a traditional oat porridge from the north-west of France, primarily Brittany, made with oats, butter and water or milk.[15]
Owsianka, an east European (Russia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine) traditional breakfast made with hot milk, oats and sometimes with sugar and butter.
Porridge made from rolled oats or ground oatmeal is common in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Finland and Scandinavia. It is known as simply "porridge" or, more commonly in the United States and Canada, "oatmeal". In the US, oat and wheat porridge can both be called "hot cereal". Rolled oats are commonly used in England, oatmeal in Scotland and steel-cut oats in Ireland.[16] In the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, cooks made burgoo for the men for breakfast, from coarse oatmeal and water.[17][18]
Porridge (Parrige) – Anglophone Caribbean (Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad etc.) Also known as Pap. The most common type is corn meal, and they are always made with milk. Varieties include oatmeal, grated green plantain, barley, cream of wheat, sago (tapioca). Oatmeal porridge is often flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar or almond essence.
Stirabout – Irish porridge, traditionally made by stirring oats into boiling water
blood sugar and making the eater feel full longer.[19] The US Consumer Reports Web site found that the more cooking required, the stronger the oat flavor and the less mushy the texture.[20]
Oats are a good source of dietary fibre; health benefits are claimed for oat bran in particular, which is part of the grain.
Preparation
The oats are cooked in milk, water or a mixture of the two.
Greek yoghurt and honey are common. Cold milk or single cream may be used.[21]
Champorado, a sweet chocolate rice porridge in Filipino cuisine. It is traditionally made by boiling sticky rice with cocoa powder, giving it a distinctly brown color and usually with milk and sugar to make it taste sweeter.
Congee, a common East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian dish of boiled-down rice:
In Bangladesh congee is prepared simply as a porridge, Whole rice (not parboiled, scented or unscented) with a bit of salt, it is known as "Jao" eaten as wholesome diet for the sick. Added date tree sugar and garam masala it is called "Kheer", Or, cooked with Sugar, Milk, nuts & raisins, cardamom, Cassia, cinnamon, Indian bay leaf, etc. it is called "Paiesh". Both "Kheer" & "Paiesh" are eaten as Dessert.
In Sri Lanka congee is prepared with many ingredients. As a porridge, Sinhala people mainly use coconut milk with rice flour, it is known as "Kiriya."
Chinese congee, called
you tiao, deep-fried dough strips. Meiling porridge (Meiling zhou 美齡粥) made of rice, yam and soya-milk, named after Soong Mei-ling, is a classic dish of Nanjing.[22]
Indonesian and Malaysian congee, called bubur, comes in many regional varieties, such as bubur sumsum, made from rice flour boiled with coconut milk then served with palm sugar sauce; and also bubur manado or tinutuan, a rice porridge mixed with various vegetables and eaten with fried salted fish and chili sauce. There is also congee made from mung beans, called bubur kacang hijau or congee with chicken called bubur ayam
Japanese congee, called
kayu, is mixed with salt and green onions. Often accompanied with variety of foods such as tsukemono (preserved vegetables), shiokara
(preserved seafoods) and so on.
Korean congee, called
juk
, can have added seafood, pine nuts, mushrooms, etc.
Thai congee, called "khao tom" (ข้าวต้ม), or "Jok" (โจ๊ก), can have added coriander, preserved duck eggs, fish sauce, sliced chili peppers, pickled mustard greens or salt cabbage preserves, red pepper flakes, etc.
Filipino congee, called lugaw or arroz caldo, contains saffron, ginger and sometimes meat. Less common ingredients include boiled eggs, pepper, chilies, puto, lumpiang toge, tofu, fish sauce, calamansi sauce, toyo and spring onions. It is common as a street food.
American rice
porridge, boiled in milk or water with sugar or salt.
Ambrosia Creamed Rice, a brand of UK rice pudding, made of rice and milk/cream, since 1937.[23]
Kheer (or Payasam), a traditional Indian sweet dish, made of rice boiled in milk.
Frescarelli, an Italian dish made of overcooked rice and white flour, typical of Marche.
Orez în lapte (Romania), a dessert made with rice boiled in milk with sugar, sometimes flavored with cinnamon, jam, cocoa powder, etc.
Tejberizs (Hungary), made with milk, sugar and usually vanilla. Served with cocoa and sugar
Risengrynsgrøt or simply Risgrøt (Scandinavia), a warm dish made with white rice cooked in milk. Served with cinnamon, sugar, and a small knob of butter.
Riskrem or rice cream dessert (
almonds, and typically served with hot or chilled cherry sauce. In Norway, the dessert is served with chilled strawberry or raspberry
Mabela, a sorghum porridge eaten typically for breakfast in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Maltabella is a brand name for a sorghum porridge manufactured by Bokomo Foods
Tolegi, a sorghum porridge eaten as a midday meal during the summer in New Guinea.
Tuwo or ogi, a Nigerian sorghum porridge that may also be made from maize.
Cream of Wheat, a brand of American wheat porridge, boiled in milk or water with sugar or salt; also called farina or "hot cereal" (a term also applied to oat porridge).
Dalia, a simple porridge made out of cracked wheat, is a common breakfast in northern India and Pakistan. It is cooked in milk or water and eaten with salt or sugar added.
Frumenty, a boiled wheat porridge eaten in Roman times, sometimes with fruit or meat added.
Gris cu lapte (Romania), dessert made with semolina
boiled in milk with sugar added, sometimes flavored with jam, raisins, dried fruit, cinnamon powder, etc.
Tejbegríz (Hungary), semolina dessert cooked with milk, usually with sugar and topped with cocoa or cinnamon powder, etc.
Velvet porridge or butter porridge, a Norwegian dish: a generous amount of white roux is made from wheat flour and butter, adding milk until it can be served as a thick porridge.
Wheatena, a brand name for a whole-wheat porridge.
Kasha, a widely consumed groats/porridge range of dishes, utilising a variety of grains, widespread in Eastern Europe and Russia.
English speakers frequently reserve the term "kasha" for buckwheat porridge, made of buckwheat in butter, as eaten by many people in Russia and Ukraine, with yoghurt more common in the Caucasus.
Genfo is a thick porridge made by lightly roasting, milling and cooking any combination of Ethiopian oats, wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, maize, chickpeas, yellow peas, soybeans, or bulla, the starch from the root of the false banana tree; it is traditionally eaten for breakfast with a dollop of clarified, spiced butter (kibe) or oil and chili-spice mix berbere, or with yoghurt. For those who can afford it, it is a popular holiday or Sunday breakfast dish and is often given to pregnant women and women after birthing to bring them back to health and strength.
Atmit, Muk or Adja is a thinner version of Genfo porridge for drinking, mixed often with spiced, clarified butter, milk and honey, or on its own with a pinch of salt. It is popular in the rainy season and for nursing the sick back to health.
Besso, made of roasted and ground barley is a popular snack for travellers and, in olden times, foot soldiers. The powder is either mixed with a bit of water, salt and chili powder to make a thick bread-like snack or mixed with more water or milk and honey for drinking. The
Gurage
and other southern tribes in Ethiopia ferment the Besso for a few days with water and a bit of sugar, add a pinch of salt and chili and drink it as a fortifying and energising meal-in-a-drink.
Multigrain Porridge
This consists of roasted rice, wheat, roasted gram, jowar, maize, millet, groundnut, cashewnut, corn, barley and ragi and is prepared by roasting all the ingredients individually in a pan without using any ghee or oil, then grinding them together into a coarse powder.
This porridge is described as being rich in protein and good for children.
Potato porridge, eaten in Norway, is a thick, almost solid paste made from cooked potatoes mixed with milk and barley.
Helmipuuro ("pearl porridge") is a porridge made from grains of potato starch swelled in milk into ca. five-mm "pearls", traditionally found in Russia and Finland.
In Nigeria the words porridge and pottage are synonymous, and it is consumed as a main meal. Nigerian yam porridge/pottage includes tomatoes and other culinary vegetables along with the yam. It may also have fish or other meat.[24]
History
Historically, porridge was a staple food in much of the world, including Europe, Africa and Asia, and it remains a staple food in many parts of the world, it becoming commonplace in agricultural societies that practice grain cultivation starting from the Neolithic period and onward.[citation needed] The dish has traditionally been closely associated with Scotland, possibly because oats can be successfully cultivated on marginal upland soils.[25] In 1775, Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote that oats were "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people".[26] Oats were introduced to Scotland in about 600 AD; traces of barley porridge have been found in pots excavated in the Outer Hebrides which have been dated to 2,500 years ago.[27]
Historically, porridge was a staple food in much of Northern Europe and Russia. It was often made from barley, though other grains and yellow peas could be used, depending on local conditions. It was primarily a savoury dish, with meats, root crops, vegetables and herbs added for flavor. Porridge could be cooked in a large metal kettle over hot coals or heated in a cheaper earthenware container by adding hot stones until boiling hot. Until leavened bread and baking ovens became commonplace in Europe, porridge was a typical means of preparing cereal crops for the table.[citation needed]
Porridge was also commonly provided for breakfast for inmates in the British prison system during the 19th century and early 20th century, and so "doing porridge" became a slang term for a sentence in prison.[28][29]
.jpg)
.jpg)
