Oat porridge with fruit and dates: a hearty start to the day

Ingredients

• 75 g medium and coarse steel-cut oats, mixed
• 75 g fine and coarse rolled oats, mixed
• 450 ml milk, or a mixture of milk and water
• pinch of ground cinnamon (to taste)
• 1 tbsp apple powder, or (since it can be hard to find) dry some fresh apple slices yourself and grind them
• a handful of dates, chopped
• a handful of dried apple, chopped into rings or pieces, with or without the skin
• a handful of dried apricots, chopped
• serve with cream, or a dollop of yoghurt
• coconut palm sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   1. Stir together the steel-cut oats and rolled oats.2. Heat the milk, or the milk-and-water mixture, in your favourite porridge pot.3. Add the oats and start stirring. Stir in the cinnamon and apple powder, along with most of the chopped fruit; set a little aside to scatter over the finished porridge.4. Let the porridge simmer gently for as long as needed, until it's just right. This usually takes around 4–6 minutes.5. Pour in a little extra milk or milk and water if the porridge gets too thick. It should be thick and creamy, but still pourable. Serve the porridge, scatter the reserved dried fruit on top, then add as much cream as you like.6. You can sweeten the porridge further by sprinkling over some coconut palm sugar. If you prefer cold cream alongside the hot porridge, spoon it into a separate bowl. Dip your spoon into the hot porridge and then into the cream. Hot and cold, cream and oats… a heavenly combination.This recipe comes from the book Eat Right by Nick Barnard