Wild Rice Porridge with Coconut Milk

This recipe is adapted from the cookbook, that I ordered online, from Amazon, Original Local: Indigenous Foods, Stories, and Recipes from the Upper Midwest, by Heid E. Erdrich. The books, I bought two, finally came in yesterday. I ordered the cookbook, Original Local because of the many recipes that highlight an important Ojibwa food source, wild rice.

So far I have learned a few things about wild rice. Wild rice that is hand harvested by Ojibwa people with canoes is called manoomin, meaning "good seed," and is very different in texture, flavor, and appearance than cultivated wild rice. Cultivated wild rice is harvested using air boats by non-Ojibwa companies and/or people. Cultivated wild rice is shiny in appearance, curls when its cooked, and has a different texture, taste and aroma. Meaning cultivated wild rice is not as good as original manoomin. Most Canadians and Americans who do not live by the Great Lakes areas or river systems that grow wild rice so we buy mostly cultivated wild rice.

The wild rice that I used in he following recipe is cultivated wild rice from a Canadian owned company called Canoe, that harvests lake shore wild rice by air boat. Although, the author and cook, Heid Erdrich recommends that you should not use cultivated wild rice in her recipes. I choose to use what is available to me knowing that the recipes I make and the rice that I use may not be as flavorful as manoomin and cooking times will be off.

Wild rice is also a super healthy food, I found out that 1 cup of wild rice contains, 6.5 grams of protein, is loaded with B-vitamins, zinc and magnesium.

Wild Rice Porridge with Coconut Milk 

2 cups of cooked wild rice

1 can of coconut milk, reserve 1/2 cup 

1/2 teaspoon of allspice or cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/4 cup of maple syrup-I used 2 tablespoons

1/4 chopped dried berries (cranberry, blueberry, cherry etc) or use raisins

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, toasted

1. Using a medium saucepan, combine rice, milk, allspice or cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Over medium heat simmer until mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat. 
2. Next stir in maple syrup and berries and serve with chopped nuts and more coconut milk. 

adjustments:

like any porridge you can add flax seeds, chia seeds or serve with fresh seasonal berries, a sliced banana or shred an apple on top.