Cinnamon Raisin Quinoa Porridge Cooked in Coconut Milk

I had a lovely quinoa breakfast over the weekend. I cooked the quinoa in unsweetened coconut milk, which I love for three reasons.

1. Coconut milk has a nice, rich mouth texture more like whole than skim milk. Quinoa cooked in coconut milk retains that rich and creamy mouth feel.

2. Coconut milk keeps for weeks in the refrigerator after opening. For many years I was afraid of trying a non-dairy milk because I worried I wouldn’t like drinking it and I would end up tossing half of it away before it was used. Fortunately, not only does coconut milk taste okay for drinking, but it keeps long enough that I always use it up.

3. My sons don’t know coconut milk tastes good enough to drink, so now I always have milk ready to use for cooking. My mother taught me to keep evaporated milk in the pantry for kitchen emergencies, but I hate opening a can. I have to dilute it with water, it looks kind of strange and unappealing, and the part I don’t use starts aging immediately. From now on, I will be keeping a non-dairy milk on hand for cooking and baking.

Coconut milk is the priciest milk on the shelf at my local grocer, so next week I will be trying almond milk to see whether I like it as much.

I searched for coconut milk on the USDA database and I only found information for the canned product which is very high in sugar and calories, but is not the product I used here. The coconut milk I used here has only 50 calories per cup and comes in a 1 quart carton.

I halved my Quinoa Porridge recipe to make this breakfast so there was just enough for two of us. No need to tempt myself to overindulge.

Cinnamon Raisin Quinoa Porridge

serves 2
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
2 tbsp. raisins

Bring the milk to a boil. Add all the other ingredients, lower heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.

I drizzled honey on top when serving. The cinnamon imparted a nice honey brown color to the quinoa.

Mmm, a wonderfully warm winter breakfast that provides as much protein as an egg and a dose of fiber as well.

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