Amaranth Porridge
Cook a wholesome, nourishing amaranth porridge for breakfast! Amaranth is rarely used in this part of the world, yet it's a very healthful food. It contains plant protein, vitamins, fiber, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Amaranth is ideal for athletes and for vegetarian and raw-food diets.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
Gather all the ingredients. You can buy amaranth seeds at health-food stores and large supermarkets. Amaranth grain usually isn't entirely yellow — there are black seeds mixed in. The black ones are unhulled seeds (with the seed coat), and the yellow ones are hulled.
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Step 2:
Amaranth seeds are very small, so pour them into a fine-mesh sieve and rinse them under running water. This washes any fine grit or other bits out of the grain. Leave the amaranth in the sieve so the excess water drains. Rinsing the seeds another way — the way you'd rinse rice, for instance — is tricky, since amaranth seeds float to the surface of the water. In that case it's better to use a piece of cheesecloth, pouring the water off the bowl.
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Step 3:
Pour milk and water into a small saucepan in a 1:1 ratio and bring the contents to a boil over high heat. Once the milk-and-water mixture boils, add a pinch of salt and stir.
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Step 4:
Stirring constantly, add the rinsed amaranth seeds in a thin stream.
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Step 5:
Turn down the heat, cover the saucepan, and cook the porridge over low heat until thickened, about 25–30 minutes. Don't open the lid for the first 10 minutes, then stir the porridge now and then so it doesn't scorch.
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Step 6:
Spoon the finished amaranth porridge into a bowl; if you like, add a small pat of butter. Stir in a sweet topping to taste — preserves, jam, nuts, berries, or fruit all work.
- When Europeans — the Spanish, to be specific — arrived in South America, many of them decided to publish books about their travels. Their works were less literary than historical and ethnographic. They usually described what the travelers encountered along the way: the peoples they met, the plants and animals they saw. And so one of these books described the amaranth plant, which of course had a different name in the local language. The book noted that it looks very much like the familiar European goosefoot back home. Just like goosefoot, this plant's leaves were eaten. Besides the leaves, amaranth's seeds were used too. Remarkably, it later turned out that amaranth and goosefoot are in fact related.
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Whole cow's milk - 68 kcal/100g
- Milk 3.5% fat content - 64 kcal/100g
- Milk 3.2% fat content - 60 kcal/100g
- Milk 1.5% fat content - 47 kcal/100g
- Concentrated milk 7.5% fat content - 140 kcal/100g
- Milk 2.5% fat content - 54 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Water - 0 kcal/100g
- Amaranth - 371 kcal/100g
