Sweet rice porridge: proportions and recipe with photo

This dish is a classic for children's breakfasts along with semolina and boring oatmeal. Sweet rice is good even on its own with a piece of butter and a crispy crust of a freshly baked bun, and if you add something contrasting (fruits, nuts) to it, you can get not only a tasty, but also a nutritious meal for the whole family. This article looks at options on how to make sweet rice porridge and what you need to know to make it incredibly appetizing.

What kind of rice is better to choose for making porridge?

Sweet is usually prepared from round varieties of rice: it cooks rather quickly and has a more starchy grain structure, which has a positive effect on the beneficial qualities of such food for the body.

At the same time, when choosing rice for porridge, one should take into account the principle of preparation: if the cereal is immediately laid with the rest of the ingredients, then it is better to take a round-grained one. If the rice is boiled, and then mixed with additional ingredients when serving, then you can use the basmati variety (long-grained), which keeps the friability of the finished porridge well.

Porridge options

Naturally, there is no point in limiting the preparation of ordinary porridge with sugar. There are many ways to prepare this dish, especially considering the possibility of additional flavors in the form of fruits, honey or berry syrup, nuts, spices and other healthy products.

So what are the most popular cooking options in use among rice lovers?

• Sweet rice porridge with milk is ideal for toddlers and preschool children.
• Porridge cooked in water will benefit those who wish to normalize the functioning of the digestive system, because everyone knows the main property of rice - to absorb toxins.
• Sweet rice and fresh berries are good for those who follow a healthy and low-calorie diet.

Porridge with milk: a recipe in a slow cooker

The simplest step-by-step recipe for sweet rice porridge in a slow cooker looks like this:

1. Rinse one and a half cups of rice several times, removing excess starch, pour into a multicooker bowl and pour four cups of milk.
2. Send a pinch of salt and two tablespoons of granulated sugar there, close the lid of the machine and set the “Milk porridge” mode, as well as the timer: one hour.
3. When the timer beeps to notify you of the end of the process, open the lid, stir the porridge with a spoon and evaluate: if the porridge is not thick enough, turn on the “Simmering” mode for another half an hour to remove excess liquid from the dish.
4. When serving, be sure to put a small piece of butter in a serving plate, and some chefs also add a pinch of vanilla sugar for an aromatic shade of the dish.

For especially capricious children (or even babies), such porridge can be rubbed through a sieve or beaten with a blender into a uniform puree, then its reception will be easier and without incident.

Diet porridge on the water

The easiest recipe for sweet rice porridge for those who want to lose weight, but love rice at the same time, can be a great lifesaver, because it has only three ingredients:

• rice - one glass;
• water - five glasses;
• honey - 1-2 teaspoons (to taste).

The peculiarity of preparing a dietary version of rice porridge is that it is boiled in a large amount of water, and not steamed in a small amount until the excess liquid is completely absorbed by the cereal. Thanks to this cooking principle, more starchy mucus comes out of rice and the porridge acquires a lower calorie content, as well as better friability, when compared with ordinary sweet rice porridge.

How to cook right?

Boil water and pour rice into it, stirring so that the cereal does not stick to the bottom of the pan, and also does not stick together, which often happens if it is not stirred in the first five minutes before the first boil. Next, let the grits boil for ten minutes over high heat, and then lower it, making it below average, and continue cooking until the rice is ready.

Then put the boiled rice in a colander, rinse lightly with boiled and chilled water and grease with a small amount of oil (no more than one tablespoon without a slide for the entire amount of ready-made porridge). Immediately before serving, add honey to the porridge in the required amount, while trying not to abuse it, remembering that the dish was planned to be dietary.

with apples

A similar principle of cooking for sweet rice porridge on the water, but with apples stewed in oil. This variant of porridge is very popular with vegans, who use coconut oil (unrefined) instead of the usual butter in such cases, which gives the dish a special charm and amazing aroma.

Take two large apples (better than sour varieties, but not important) and cut into medium-sized cubes, removing seeds and partitions along the way. In a saucepan, dissolve three tbsp. tablespoons of sugar mixed with two tablespoons of warm water, then add two tbsp. spoons of coconut oil and chopped apples. Stew for no more than four minutes, trying not to bring the apples to a state of porridge: they should retain their shape, but become soft. That is why the peel of apples is not removed, it helps the pieces to maintain the desired cut.

Next, cook sweet rice porridge, as in a diet recipe. And after the finished rice drains from excess water in a colander, move it to portioned plates. Put three or four tablespoons of sweet apple mass on each hill of rice, stirring slightly. Some sweet tooth additionally like to sprinkle such porridge with a pinch of cinnamon for a spicy flavor. If coconut oil is not available or you are not a vegan, then it can be replaced with regular butter (only good quality: no need to use spread, margarine and similar mixtures of trans fats).

With nuts and dried fruits: based on kutya

At Christmas, many hostesses cook sweet rice porridge with raisins and nuts instead of traditional wheat and poppy seeds, arguing that it is easier, faster and even tastier for many, because not everyone likes the specific taste of boiled wheat grain. To prepare such porridge, you will need the following ingredients:

Before starting cooking, rice should be washed under running, lukewarm water several times, then the finished porridge will not have excessive mucus, which is characteristic of all starchy foods. A good indicator is that the water from under the rice is clear, and not white or cloudy, as happens at the first stage of washing the cereal. Next, boil the water required by the recipe, pour in the rice and mix well, making sure that the grains do not stick to the bottom. This procedure should be carried out every five minutes to control the cooking process. When the rice has boiled for ten minutes, the stove fire should be made small so that the porridge is more rotten than boiling, then it will be especially tasty, like from the oven.

It is also better to wash raisins and dried apricots in water in order to remove small fragments of sand and dust, which are quite often found in this product and creak unpleasantly on the teeth during eating. When the rice is half cooked, add dried fruits to it and continue heat treatment until cooked, and after cooking, add chopped nuts to the rice porridge, add honey to taste and oil, thoroughly mixing the contents of the pan. Cover it with a towel and let stand for ten to fifteen minutes so that the rice porridge ripens and soaks up the taste of the added ingredients.

Belgian porridge

This European version of the preparation of sweet rice porridge will definitely appeal to lovers of fragrant dishes that combine simplicity and elegance of taste. There is nothing special about this version of rice porridge: quite simple ingredients, combined together, form an amazing composition that gives great pleasure to the taste buds. What is needed for cooking:

• 700 ml fresh milk, preferably with a high fat content (Belgians love this);
• 130 grams of rice;
• 60 grams of regular sugar + two tablespoons of cane (brown);
• 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon;
• saffron on the tip of a knife (this ingredient is optional, but it gives a chic touch to the dish);
• some vanilla.

Step by step cooking

Boil the milk in a heavy-walled saucepan and pour in the rice while stirring. Add white sugar and boil the mixture for 15 minutes. Then add the spices, reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer for another 25 minutes, be sure to stir occasionally so that nothing burns. By the way, it is very convenient to use a slow cooker to prepare this type of porridge. When the dish is ready, add the saffron, mix well again and turn off the heat.

Pour brown sugar in a thin layer over the entire surface of the porridge, let stand for a while so that it melts and turns into a fragrant crust. You can serve at the table!

You can also do this not in a saucepan, but in portioned plates so that the sugar crust is even and looks more attractive when served.