What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “porridge”? Oats, right? Booooring… Honestly, I love oats in all their forms. So, I guess it means something when I say that ever since I tried this spiced buckwheat porridge with apple I haven’t thought about them again. That’s how good it is! Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eventually go back to my beloved oats, but as I’ve mentioned before, it is good to change things often in order to get variety into your diet.
Ingredients for the spiced buckwheat porridge with apple
Buckwheat groats: Buckwheat groats are hulled buckwheat seeds that can be used the same way as grains like barley, rice or whole wheat. You will find them in bigger supermarkets or well-equipped whole-food stores. If you want to find out more about what buckwheat is and how can it benefit your health, check this out!
Apple juice: Try to use 100% natural apple juice, which is a much better alternative to soft drinks with added sweeteners.
Apples: Choose any from sweet, juicy and crisp apple varieties such as Fuji, Gala or Honeycrisp.
Five-spice powder: If you are not familiar with five-spice powder, you will become very close friends after you try it in this buckwheat porridge. Five-spice powder is an Asian mix of five different spices: star anise, fennel, Szechuan pepper, cinnamon and cloves, and it is very famous in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine.
It includes all five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami, making it equally good for both sweet and savoury dishes. You can find it in specialised spice stores or you can create your own homemade mix. Follow The Spruce eats recipe to make five-spice powder at home.
Hazelnut butter: I’m using 100% hazelnut butter from roasted nuts.
Rice milk: The rice milk I’m using is unsweetened and made from 14% rice, with added salt and rice oil.
How to make buckwheat porridge?
If you are only now getting to know buckwheat, you should know it is a very versatile ingredient! It works perfectly in either savoury recipes or sweet ones. Depending on how you want to use it, you can play with different cooking liquids or add various kinds of spices to your recipes.
Even though porridge is most often made with oats, it can actually be made with any other grain or pseudocereal, for that matter. Making buckwheat porridge is nothing else than cooking buckwheat groats in a type of liquid, most often water. Simple, right? Still, before you do it, you should know a few essential things.
When I first bought my buckwheat groats, the label said to cook them for 30 minutes, using a ratio of 2:1 water to buckwheat. Out of curiosity and for experimentation’s sake, I followed the instructions only to get a very bland, overcooked mush. By the end of the cooking, there was not enough water, so the buckwheat started sticking to the bottom. Long story short, it was a total failure.
So, after a few trial and error, I’ve come up with a foolproof method of cooking buckwheat porridge that will work every single time:
- Toast five-spice powder for 1-2 minutes on medium heat to enhance its aromas
- Rinse raw buckwheat groats under running water
- In a pot, bring the liquid to a boil (the ratio of liquid to buckwheat groats is 1,5:1): I’ve used a combination of water and apple juice.
- Once the liquid is boiling, add in the buckwheat groats, toasted five-spice and a pinch of salt. Give it a good stir to combine evenly.
- Once the cooking liquid starts to simmer, put on a timer for 10-12 minutes.
- Cook on very low heat.
- By the end of those 10-12 minutes, check the texture of the buckwheat; it should be “al dente”, just cooked, and almost all the water should be absorbed.
- Leave the porridge covered, off heat, for another 5 minutes: this will allow all the water to be absorbed and the buckwheat to finish cooking without turning into a mash.
- By the end, while the porridge is still hot, add hazelnut butter and rice milk for extra creaminess and additional sweetness.
If you want to make the porridge even more flavourful, here is a little trick! Before you rinse your buckwheat groats, you can toast them for 3-5 minutes on a pan until lightly browned but not burned. It will make it even more nutty and sweet. You have to try it!
