There are some food textures that I cannot abide. Enormous hunks of sun-dried tomato make me gag; the mealy, fibrous feel of some kinds of squash turns my stomach. The soggy consistency of overcooked, waterlogged rice might top both of these, however, on my personally calibrated grossness scale. Last week, when Jason got distracted with multiple other components of an ambitious dinner and let the brown rice go too long, I just couldn’t eat it. But since both of us hate wasting food, the conundrum became what to do with a giant pot of leftover rice.
Thus began my scheming for a grand resurrection of the watery grains. In the past, I’ve enjoyed both a Moosewood recipe for stovetop rice pudding and a slow cooker recipe for oatmeal that tastes like pumpkin pie, so I thought I might be able to combine them into a yummy weekend breakfast. Also, we had an abundance of carrots in the fridge after Jason found a mother lode of root vegetables at the farmers market, and when I recalled that I do now have a modicum of carrot cake experience, a plan began to take shape.
Below is the recipe that I came up with. When the rice was cooked with almond milk until it had the consistency of oatmeal, I no longer found it repulsive. And despite having the word “cake” in the name, most of the ingredients are terrifically healthy. You deserve a merit badge, however, if you manage to leave off the cream cheese (cheese of wonder!) and honey glaze that I added at the end for a boost of carrot cake flavor and a touch of decadence.
Carrot Cake Breakfast Porridge
2 cups cooked brown rice- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 ½ cups vanilla almond milk (or regular or soy milk)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- 1/3 cup chopped nuts
- ½ cup raisins
For the glaze:
- 1 oz. cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon honey
Combine rice, carrots and milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Uncover and continue cooking until the mixture combines and thickens, about 20 minutes. Stir frequently. Add honey, spices, nuts and raisins and cook for five more minutes. In a small microwavable dish, heat the cream cheese and honey for a few seconds and stir vigorously to combine. Drizzle the glaze over individual bowls of porridge.