Rice Porridge
One-Dish-Wonders
The Art of cooking with limited cookware; or having cookware but not a great way to wash it; or just wanting to keep it simple so you don’t spend precious ski time washing dishes. Sometimes it’s a great combination of tasty individual items that becomes a hearty meal and does NOT turn to a mucky mush. Or sometimes it does become a mucky mush…but if you’re hungry and it tastes good, much can be forgiven.
Just before our first trip into the remote cabin (in the Upper Peninsula) our friend in Wisconsin lent us the book “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” by Cheryl Strayed, her tale of reclaiming her life while hiking the PCT in the summer of 1995. She ate dehydrated food most of the time and was halfway starved by the end of the three month trek.
We, on the other hand, are not starving. I am grateful for this. We haul things (including that book) only one mile, not 1,600. This was a great book to read when cooking a one-dish-wonder, it increased my gratitude that I have non-instant rice, fresh apples and real coffee out here. Other things I am grateful for? I am grateful for a dry sleeping bag, dry wood to burn, the fact that bears sleep in the winter, a cabin that warms easily, and toilet paper in the (chilly) outhouse.
In her book Cheryl describes the agonies of hiking the trail with boots that were too small, causing her to lose numerous toenails and suffer an unending series of blisters. I am also grateful for my dry socks, mukluks, well-fitting ski boots, and that my out-of-shape muscles are only sore… not throbbing with pain and rubbed raw. I’m really happy for a set of dry long underwear to change into at the end of the day, and grateful for the clean water that Scott fetches from the main warming cabin/shop every morning, only one mile away.
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And I am especially grateful for the saunas that we take every night at ABR! There is no skin-softening lotion on the market that can rival the effects of sweat gushing out one’s pores while sitting in a 220 degree hut. But only two snow angels so far…we’ll have to work on Gumption.
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Scott likes his saunas HOT!
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Our loo at twilight.
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Packing out. Scott is scraping ice from his boots while balanced on one ski with a ridiculously heavy backpack and a small frontpack—thank you Heather for all those years of yoga!
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A nice side shot of the pack. During the PCT hike Cheryl Strayed named her backpack “Monster”, I think this one could be a relative.
To the cabin we bring lots of nuts and dried fruits (among many other things). We bring cooked rice. We bring coconut oil. We bring cinnamon.
This rice porridge is an easy breakfast with carbohydrates and protein and is ever-evolving, manifesting in many variations. Like the Squash Porridge we add various nuts and fruit and always cinnamon.
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If there are bananas around I chop them up and fry them before adding the dried fruit.
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Breakfast back at the home-base cabin with some beloved ski-prep essentials.
We like the high proportion of nuts to grains, but you can add more grain to stretch it.
I didn’t have measuring spoons so much of this is an approximation! Taste and adjust, taste and adjust.
Rice Porridge
Prep Time: 10 minutes (not including the rice) Cook Time: 10 minutes
Melt in a heavy sauce pan or saute pan:
1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil or Butter
Add:
1 Banana, diced
Fry for a few minutes then add:
1/2 cup Dried Fruit, diced (prunes, figs, apricots, craisins, currants, raisins, crystalized ginger…whatever you have)
1/4-1/2 cup Water
Salt
Simmer a few minutes.
Stir in:
1 cup Rice, cooked
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
Heat on low until rice is hot.
Stir in:
1/4 cup Chopped Nuts (Sunflower Seeds, Walnuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts…whatever you have)
1/4 cup Pumpkin Seeds
Taste and adjust.
Eat as is, or add a little more water for a creamier texture, or top with cream.
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Other ingredient ideas:
- Millet—cook it in with the rice—use the same method as White Rice on this post.
- Buckwheat
- Apple
- Blueberries
- Coconut
- Whey Powder or Hemp Protein Powder
- Lime Zest
- Pine Nuts
- Cardamom
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Our path to the loo.
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