5 Porridge Recipes to Fill you up in Iftar

While most families love laying out different snacks for Iftar, it is also important that we eat something that will soothe and keep us full rather than to munch on snacks from time to time. If we constantly eat after breaking fast it could result in weight gain for most people. Here are five tasty porridge recipes that you can make to keep you and your family full throughout the night. Included in this list, we have porridges that are sweet, spicy and savoury to mingle your tastebuds. So go on and give these recipes a try!

1. Rice and Beef Porridge

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This porridge is one of my favourites. It is creamy and spicy at the same time. You will get all the flavors that you enjoy in a normal beef curry along with the creaminess of coconut. This porridge pairs up really well with any iftar snack and the rice and beef will make sure you are full and satisfied. 

For this porridge, you may prefer to leave the beef bones in this porridge to give it a rich flavor.

Ingredients 

500g of Beef	1 tea spoon of fenugreek seeds
1 cup of white rice (or rice that have small-sized grain)	1 small piece of a pandan leaf (about an inch)
1½ cups of thin coconut milk	½ tea spoon of turmeric powder
1 cup of thick coconut milk	1 tea spoon of chilli powder
8 cloves of garlic	2 tea spoons coriander powder
4 cardamom pods	½ tea spoon cumin powder
1 small piece of cinnamon	Salt to taste

Method

1. Cut the beef into bite sizes.
2. Wash and strain your rice and set it aside.
3. Add the beef into a pressure cooker along with turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, cardamoms, cinnamon and salt to taste along with sufficient water. (ensure that the water level does not go above the level of the beef to avoid runny porridge)
4. Cook your beef till it is tender.
5. In a separate cooking pot, add the rinsed rice along with cloves of garlic, fenugreek seeds, pandan leaf and 2 cups of water.
6. Cook the rice.
7. Once the rice is cooked, stir the rice with a wooden spoon and break the rice into fine grain particles.
8. Add the thin coconut milk to your rice and season it with salt.
9. Once the coconut milk is mixed into the rice, add in the cooked beef along with the beef broth (do not strain the broth of the beef, add the whole mixture to the cooked rice)
10. Keep stirring.
11. Once it is well mixed and the porridge starts to bubble up, add in the thick coconut milk a little at a time till it is fully incorporated with the porridge.
12. Turn the flame to low.
13. Serve warm in a bowl.

2. Milky Rice Porridge

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This porridge is perfect for families with kids because it has a mild milky taste to it. However, you could also add the coconut sambal if you prefer something that is spicy. However, be sure to serve the porridge and sambal separately and add it to your porridge gradually.

Ingredients

1 cup of white rice	2½ cups of thick coconut milk
2 tea spoons of fenugreek seeds	A small piece of a pandan leaf (the size of an inch would do)
10 cloves of chopped garlic	Salt to taste
2 cups of thin coconut milk

Method

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and set aside.
2. In a medium cooking pot, add in the rinsed rice, fenugreek seeds, small pandan leaf along with the chopped garlic, salt and 2 cups of water. 
3. Cook rice until it is soft.
4. Once the rice is cooked through, take a wooden spoon and stir the rice while breaking the rice into fine particles.
5. Add in your thin milk to the rice mixture and allow it to cook for a few minutes. Keep stirring till it mixes well.
6. Once you see bubbles forming, add your thick milk a little at a time and keep stirring the mixture until the milk is fully incorporated into the porridge.
7. Turn the heat to low and let the porridge simmer for a few minutes.
8. Once you see the porridge thicken up, take the pot off from the heat and serve in porridge bowls.
9.  

Coconut Sambal

Ingredients 

1 cup of grated coconut	½ tea spoon of turmeric powder
4 cloves of garlic	½ tea spoon of cumin powder
3 green chilis	½ teaspoon of chilli flakes
1 small onion	½ a lemon or 1 lime
4-5 curry leaves	Salt to taste

Method

1. Grind all the ingredients coarsely except for the lime (don’t make it to a paste consistency)
2. Add salt to taste 
3. Squeeze lime or lemon juice

Note – the addition of green chilies along with chilie flakes can make this quite spicy. If you don’t want this on the hot side you can skip the chili and just add the chilli flakes to spice it up.

 

3. Semolina Porridge

Image Credit: zen.yandex

This porridge is a sweet porridge and is absolutely perfect to ease your gut after a good Iftar meal. Semolina has so many great benefits to your health. There are two ways when preparing this porridge. You can either use sugar as a sweetener or alternatively you can substitute it with jaggery, a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar. Both variations of the recipe are given below, take a look at what works the best for you and give this beautiful recipe a go!

Ingredients

1 cup of Semolina	1 cup thin coconut milk
2 pods of crushed Cardamoms	¼ cup of sugar
A small pandan leaf (about an inch)	¼ cup of thick coconut milk
¼ cup of chopped cashews	Salt to taste

Method

1. Pour 1 cup of water and Semolina into a medium sized cooking pot and mix the two.
2. Stir well and heat it on medium. 
3. Keep stirring and avoid forming lumps. Break up lumps using the back of a spoon.
4. After the Semolina has been cooked in the water, add in the cardomoms, pandan leaf and a pinch of salt. Continue stirring the mixture.
5. Once the above ingredients are fully incorporated to the mixture, add in thin coconut milk a little at a time and keep stirring.
6. Add in your chopped cashew nuts to the porridge.
7. Add the ¼ cup of sugar a little at a time and stir well till it is dissolved in the mixture.
8. Turn the heat to low and let the porridge sit for a few minutes.
9. Once you see that the porridge is starting to bubble a little, add in your thick coconut milk a little at a time and mix till it is fully incorporated in the porridge.
10. Serve warm.

As a substitute for sugar, use 250 g of Jaggery. You have to add the Jaggery in the first step along with the addition of semolina to the water. If your jaggery is tough you can grate it into fine pieces. This helps the jaggery to dissolve easily.

4. Sago Porridge

Image Credit: proguide.ng

Being abstained from food and drinks duirng Ramadan may cause our body to dehydrate. This Sago Porridge will help you get rid of the excess heat in your body. This porridge pairs well with any roti (bread), specially ghee roti, by dipping the roti into the porridge.

Ingredients 

¼ cup of sago	250 g of jaggery
A small pandan leaf (about an inch)	1 cup thin coconut milk
2 cardomms	¼ cup thick coconut milk
1 cup thin coconut milk	1 cup of chopped cashew nuts

Method

1. Add the sago, pandan leaves, 1¼ cup of water and a pince of salts into a large cooking pot and place it on medium heat.
2. Keep stirring and break all lumps formed using the back of the spoon.
3. Add the jaggery to the mixture and keep stirring, ensure that the jaggery is grated so that the mixture is smooth.
4. Bring it to a boil and add the thin coconut milk to the mixture.
5. When the mixture starts boiling, add the thick milk a little at a time and mix well.
6. Turn down the flame and let it simmer for two to three minutes.
7. Serve warm in a bowl and you can top it off with chopped cashew nuts.

Instead of jaggery, you may substitute it with ¼ cup of sugar.

5. Creamy Oats and Chicken Porridge

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I'm pretty sure you've heard of oats that are served with berries and fruits. But have you actually thought of pairing it with meat? It is simply delicious. This oats and chicken porridge will give you the amazing curry flavour, along with all the goodness and health benefits of oats, leaving you full and satisfied after Iftar.

Ingredients

1 small chicken breast	A small pandan leaf (about an inch)
½ tea spoon of coriander powder	¼ cup of thick coconut milk
½ teaspoon of chili powder	2 cloves of garlic
¼ tea spoon of turmeric powder	1 small onion
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon powder (or stick)	A few curry leaves (around 4 to 5 leaves would do)
½ tea spoon of coriander powder	1 tablespoon of ghee (clarified butter)
¼ cup of instant oats	Chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)

Method

1. Cut up the chicken breasts into cubes.
2. Add the chicken cubes, tumeric, chilli, coriander and cinnamon powder or stick into a pot. Add a teaspoon of salt and a cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil until the chicken is cooked. Set it the pot aside.
3. In a separate cooking pot, mix the oats and 2 cups of water. Stir well until it is partially soaked.
4. Place the pot with the oats and water on a stove with medium heat.
5. Add in a ¼ tea spoon of salt along with the small pandan leaf and cook the oats in the water.
6. Once the oats are cooked add in the chicken along with the broth and mix well. Keep stirring the mixture and avoid any lumps being formed in the porridge.
7. Once the porridge has reached a boil, add the thick coconut milk a little at a time and mix well.
8. Turn the flame to low and let the porridge simmer for a few minutes.
9. While the porridge in simmering on low heat. Take a small sauce pan and heat the table spoon of ghee.
10. Add the garlic and onions to the heated ghee along with the curry leaves.
11. Sauté this till the onions are golden (do not brown the onions too much, make sure to keep an eye on this).
12. Add the garlic, onion and curry leaves to the oats.
13. Serve warm in bowls and garnish with few chopped up coriander leaves.

Alternatively, you can substitute the chicken with beef. Pre-heat the porridge before iftar to serve it warm.