Tips to Cook Perfect Porridge

Any porridge can be cooked in such a way that the most picky eater will pony up for a second helping. In a word, it can be cooked perfectly once you know these secrets we are going to tell you about.

You can use water, instead of whole milk, or even bouillon to cook this dish. As to its consistency, all porridges are divided into friable, sticky and watery consistency – it depends on a ratio of groats and liquid you use.

The table below indicates groats and liquid norms to get a specific consistence while cooking. Liquid and salt amount, required for porridge cooking, is indicated for 1 kg of groats. (The table below is taken from “Cooking” by Guba N.I., 1987).

The first secret of tasty gruel is the necessity to remove all bad grains and wash the rest of them thoroughly if it is possible. Keep in mind that washed groats absorb and hold some amount of liquid. In order to keep up a required proportion of groats and liquid, one should follow the next rules: pour out the required amount of liquid into a pot. After boiling, add washed groats, and measure the total volume of the pan’s content. If it’s more than you’ve measured before, pout out the excess or add more liquid in opposite case. Thus, you will get more or less exact ratio of water and groats, irrespective of water amount in groats while washing.

If you cook buckwheat, semolina, Hercules or Poltaskaya oatmeal, then take the required amount of liquid, add salt and other products. After boiling add groats.

If you want to make this dish tastier, add some grease before you put groats. Fried groats require more liquid as far as water content is always reduced by 10% while browning.

Wash out groats and put them into boiling water (groats should be warm), mix it carefully as you may damage the wholeness of the seeds.

Use a silver or wooden spoon. Don’t forget to pour in groats in a boiling liquid stirring constantly.

Rice, millet, pearl barley are hardly boiled soft in milk. That’s why if you cook milk porridge from these groats, it’s necessary to boil them for 5 – 10 minutes in water. Then pour out this water and cover the groats with required amount of milk (by standards) and cook on a slow flame.

Friable Porridge

Take raw groats to cook friable porridge. The grains should be well – cooked and hold the shape, so they could be separated one from another. Such porridge is usually cooked, using all types of groats. It can be a separate dish, garnish or to be a part of some complex trimmings. It is better to boil rice in beef infusion broth in case you serve rice as trimmings for poultry or lamb. You can serve hot and friable porridge with any edible flat, browned onion, boiled mushrooms, chopped eggs and sour cream. It’s recommended to serve hold porridge with milk, cream and sugar. 1 kg groats yield is 2.1 – 3 kg of cooked porridge.

If you want to get tasty buckwheat, barley, rice meals, wash out groats in advance in warm and hot water to remove starch and prevent grease development on seeds later.

2 Ways to Cook Boiled Buckwheat

1. Pour in groats in boiling and salted water and mix it. Remove all floating seeds, using straining spoon. You can add 5 – 10% of rice mass. When it becomes thick, continue cooking on a small flame and stir it from time to time.
2. Pour in fried groats in boiling and salted water. Take it 5 – 6% more than you use to cook porridge from raw groats. Such cooking takes less time. If you want to get friable meal, fluff it up with a fork. If you see any crusts on casserole’s walls, just steam them out in twofold amount of water and mix with the porridge.
   

3 Ways to Cook Boiled Rice

1. Pour out washed rice in boiling salted water; add butter, melted butter or rendered fat – 5 – 10% of rice mass. Cook in a small flame and stir it from time to time. After the rice is swollen, cover the casserole and cook within 30 – 40 minutes. It’s better to bring the porridge to a boil in the oven.
2. Add rice in boiling and salted water (6l to 1kg) and cook on a low heat. When seeds are already soft, use a colander to strain off liquid from seeds and wash the rice in a hot water. Lay it out in a bakeware, add some fat and put into oven.
3. Take washed rice, chopped onion, salt, butter and cover all these ingredients with hot chicken broth (2.1 l to 1 kg of rice). Cook it till the rice takes up the broth. Cover the casserole with rice and put on water bath.

Semolina

Bolt hard – wheat manna-croup and dry it a little to get goldish color. Then mix it with melted butter. Bring water to a boil and salt it. Pour in manna-croup in a bakeware, stir it and put into oven for 20 – 30 minutes.

Millet Porridge

1. Add millet to boiling and salted water; stir it from time to time on a small flame within 5 – 6 minutes. Pour out the water to get 2.5 times as much volume of croup and water as raw croup. Cover the bake ware and cook in oven.
2. Scald millet and put it in boiling and salted water. Cook the dish till it is done.

Sticky Porridge

Grains of such porridge are delicious – boiled and soft, but they are not slicked together. You can use any type of groats. However, it’s better to take crushed and manna-croup. Use water, whole or diluted milk. Whole milk is used to cook sweet porridge. You can also add raisins, dried raisins and prunes. Serve milk porridge with butter; if it is cooked on water, add any edible fat.

Boiled rice, bulgur wheat and porridge.

Add salt, sugar to boiling water, stir a little, then pour in washed rice and cook on a small flame for 20 minutes. Then pour out the water and add hot milk. Continue boiling for 30 – 40 minutes more.

Semolina

This croup swells in hot water in 20 – 30 seconds. That’s why when pour in required amount of manna – croup into the boiling water or milk you must stir it thoroughly to prevent clots. Bring the water or milk to a boil, add salt or sugar, and mix it till the complete dissolution. Then pour in manna – croup. Cook on a small flame during 15 – 20 minutes. Don’t forget to stir semolina continually.

It’s recommended to cook liquid porridge, using whole or diluted milk, especially, as invalid food (semolina and porridge).

To cook these dishes, all types of groats are used.