Quinoa and blackberry porridge

This is my kind of everyday brekkie! Gluten-free, dairy-free and loaded with nutrients.

Credit: Plum Books / Armelle Habib

• serves

  2

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

I like to use white quinoa in this recipe as it has a soft flavour and creamy texture, but any variety of quinoa will work — they all have the same amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat. If you don’t have blackberries, don’t sweat. You can use blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or any kind of berries — fresh or frozen. (Yes, frozen berries contain the same amount of vitamins and fibre as fresh ones.)

Ingredients

• 100 g (½ cup) white quinoa
• 250 ml (1 cup) almond milk
• ½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (see Note)
• 130 g (1 cup) blackberries
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• chia seeds, to serve

Instructions

Rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve and transfer to a small saucepan with 1 cup of water. Bring to the boil, then cover, reduce heat and cook for 5–10 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the quinoa has softened and doubled in size. Add the almond milk, vanilla seeds and half the berries. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until nice and creamy.

Spoon the quinoa into two serving bowls and top each with half the remaining berries, maple syrup and a sprinkle of chia seeds. Yum!

Note

• You can substitute ¼ teaspoon of pure vanilla powder if you don’t have a vanilla pod.

Recipe from The 20/20 Diet Cookbook by Lola Berry, with photographs by Armelle Habib (Plum Books, pb, $34.99). 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

I like to use white quinoa in this recipe as it has a soft flavour and creamy texture, but any variety of quinoa will work — they all have the same amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat. If you don’t have blackberries, don’t sweat. You can use blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or any kind of berries — fresh or frozen. (Yes, frozen berries contain the same amount of vitamins and fibre as fresh ones.)