Pumpkin porridge with millet is a classic of Russian cuisine. This dish is simple to prepare, but at the same time extremely tasty and healthy. Especially successful is the porridge cooked according to an old Russian recipe.
Pumpkin porridge with millet is a hearty and very healthy dish. It is great for breakfast, but it can also decorate a dinner party if served in an original way. Millet contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals. But ordinary porridge made from such cereals is not popular. When pumpkin is added, the dish acquires a very rich and bright taste.
Pumpkin porridge with millet is suitable for baby, diet food. It is useful for digestion, to improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system. You can prepare it in different ways, but in all cases it turns out to be unusually tasty.
Porridge made according to an old recipe
In Russia, pumpkin porridge was cooked in the oven and it turned out to be deliciously tasty. But there are recipes that allow you to get almost the same porridge as was cooked in the old days. To prepare such a dish you will need:
- 700-800 g pumpkin;
- 1, 5 cups of millet;
- a little salt;
- sugar (you do not need to add);
- 3-4 glasses of water.
Cooking steps:
- Gently peel the pumpkin from the peel, pulp, seeds, and then cut the hard part into small cubes (length and width about 1 cm). For cooking porridge, it is better to choose a sweet pumpkin. Muscat varieties are ideal.
- Put the millet in a bowl, pour 2 cups of hot water and drain the water after a couple of minutes. Repeat the procedure until the water becomes clear. This step should not be neglected, since steaming and rinsing allows you to eliminate the bitter taste of millet.
- Pour 3-4 cups of water into a saucepan with a thick bottom (even better, take a cast iron pot with a lid), add pumpkin slices, salt a little and cook for about 10 minutes. The pumpkin should be soft. Pour washed millet into a saucepan and cook for another 30 minutes. If the pumpkin is sweet, no additional sugar is needed. But after boiling, you can taste the porridge and, if the need arises, sweeten it.
- Preheat the oven to a temperature of 160-180 ° C, then turn it off and put a saucepan or pot of porridge in it for 30 minutes. The pan lid must be closed. For 30 minutes, the porridge should rebuke and infuse.
Serve the finished dish to the table in a wide clay pot or arrange it on deep portioned plates. You can put sour cream in each portion or add a little sour milk to the porridge.
Pumpkin milk porridge with millet
Pumpkin porridge with millet turns out to be especially tasty if boiled in milk. To prepare such a dish you will need:
- 500 g pumpkin;
- half a glass of millet;
- 2, 5 glasses of milk;
- a little salt;
- butter;
- sugar to taste.
Cooking steps:
- Peel the pumpkin from the peel, and also remove the seeds, soft center. Cut the firm flesh into small pieces or grate on a very coarse grater.
- Put the millet in a bowl, pour boiling water over and drain the water after 3 minutes. Rinse the groats well.
- Pour milk into a saucepan, bring to a boil, add a pinch of salt and a little sugar to taste. If the pumpkin is sweet, you don't need to add sugar. Put the boiling pumpkin slices in the milk and cook for 10 minutes. In order to prevent the porridge from burning, it is better to cook it in a saucepan with a double bottom, after pouring water into a special hole.
- Add millet to porridge and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Close the pan with a lid, remove it from the stove and wrap it for 15 minutes. Serve hot porridge to the table in deep portioned bowls or plates. Put a piece of butter in each serving.
The proportions in this recipe can be adjusted to your liking. If you want to make the porridge thinner, you need to increase the amount of milk. Milk can be added at any stage of cooking, or even poured directly into portioned plates. To make the porridge more homogeneous, you can grind it with a blender at low speeds after cooking or knead it.
Pumpkin porridge with millet, cooked in the oven
Pumpkin porridge turns out fragrant and tasty in the oven. It may seem a little dry, but it can be easily corrected by adding milk. To prepare the dish you will need:
- 500 g pumpkin;
- 1 glass of millet;
- 2 cups milk (medium fat is better);
- a little salt;
- 2 tablespoons butter;
- honey;
- 100 g of raisins.
Cooking steps:
- Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds, cut into small cubes.
- Pour millet with boiling water and drain the liquid after 5 minutes. Put cereals in a saucepan, pour milk, add a little salt and cook for 10-15 minutes until half cooked. Rinse the raisins carefully and cover with hot water for 15 minutes.
- Transfer the contents of the pot to an earthen or cast iron pot. Any other refractory cookware with a lid will do. Add pumpkin pieces, prepared raisins, butter. Close the dishes with a lid, put in an oven preheated to 180 ° C and cook at this temperature for about 30 minutes. Then turn off the oven and let the porridge brew for another 15 minutes.
Place the porridge in a clay pot or portioned plates before serving. Pour honey gently over each portion.
Pumpkin porridge with millet and rice
To make the porridge even more satisfying, you can use not only millet, but also rice for its preparation. To cook porridge you will need:
- 500 g pumpkin;
- small carrots;
- 2 cups milk (medium or low fat is better);
- 1 glass of water;
- half a glass of millet;
- half a glass of rice cereal;
- a little salt;
- sugar to taste.
Cooking steps:
- Gently peel the pumpkin with a knife, then cut into small cubes. Peel and grate the carrots.
- Put pumpkin cubes and carrots in a thick-walled saucepan, pour water over. The water should cover the vegetables. Boil pumpkin and carrots for 10 minutes.
- Mix millet and rice and rinse several times with water. It is convenient to use a colander. Put the cereals in a saucepan with already boiled vegetables, pour over milk, and also salt a little. Sugar can be added as desired.
- Cook pumpkin porridge over low heat for about 30 minutes. After turning off the stove, crush it directly in a saucepan or grind it gently with a blender. When serving, you can add a piece of butter to each separate portion.
Pumpkin porridge with millet and dried fruits
Pumpkin porridge with millet can be baked directly in the pumpkin, adding dried fruits to the basic ingredients. To prepare such an original homemade dish, you will need:
- 1 pumpkin (diameter - about 25 cm);
- a glass of millet;
- 1 liter of milk;
- 100 g butter;
- 100 g of prunes and dried apricots;
- a little salt and sugar to taste.
Cooking steps:
- Rinse the pumpkin, cut off the top and carefully cut out the pulp. You should get a pot. Grate the hard part of the pumpkin or chop very finely. It will take about 1.5 cups of chopped pumpkin, and the rest can be used to prepare other dishes.
- Rinse prunes and raisins very thoroughly and pour boiling water over for 15 minutes, then cut into small pieces.
- Put chopped pumpkin into a homemade pot, add pre-washed millet, dried fruits, salt and pour milk. Sugar can be omitted if the pumpkin is sweet.
- Cover the pumpkin pot with a lid and place in the oven for 40 minutes. Cook at 180 ° C.
- Open the oven, remove the lid from the pumpkin pot, add oil and cook for another 30 minutes.
Serve the dish directly in the pumpkin. Add a little more butter or drizzle with honey if desired. Porridge prepared according to this recipe turns out to be quite dense, but at the same time crumbly and very tasty.