I’m hopefully publishing this recipe right in that sweet spot when Melbourne weather is still showing some wintery traits, and all my friends and family in Slovenia are getting their first taste of Autumn. And be it winter or autumn, you can’t go wrong with porridge. I mix a couple of different seeds in here with the oats and a bit of an unusual porridge ingredient – sweet potato. It is there to make the porridge even more naturally sweet and creamy and add some nutritional value but you can easily skip it. As with any other breakfast recipe that I share, you can choose any topping that you like, what I use is simply for inspiration. With pears, I like them best when I bake instead of poach them, but poached would work just fine too.

INGREDIENTS

PORRIDGE:

• 1 cup oats
• almond or coconut milk (you could use any other milk too)
• maple syrup
• pinch of salt
• powdered cinnamon and turmeric

*OPTIONAL:

• 1 tbs chia seeds
• 1/2 tbs psyllium husk
• 1/2 tbs linseed
• 1/2 sweet potato
• 5 cloves, 5 lightly crushed cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, star anis
• neutral collagen protein powder or any neutral protein powder can be added too

PEARS:

• 3 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• cinnamon
• 1 tbs maple syrup
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of half lemon
• 2tbs water

EXTRA TOPPING IDEAS:

• melted ghee
• blueberries
• coconut flakes
• walnuts
• dried cranberries
• cacao nibs
• maple syrup
• coyo
• nut butter

METHOD:

1. OPTIONAL STEP: If you want to follow the long process, peel and cube the sweet potato. Place it in a small pot, pour over just enough water to cover it and add the cardamom, cloves, star anis and cinamon stick. Cook for around 20min or until the sweet potato is very soft. Strain and keep the spiced water (you will use it too cook the porridge), mash the potato with a fork and discard the spices.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C (not fan forced). Take a deep baking dish, place in all the pear ingredients, cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for 20min, take the alu foil off, mix the pears around and bake for another 15min. They should be nice and soft.
3. For the porridge, grab a small/medium pot, add in the oats and gently roast them until you’re staring to get some lovely smells. This step is important as it will really give you some depth of flavour.
4. After 3-5min of roasting them, add the spiced water (if you did step 1 – otherwise one cup of water will do) and a cup of almond or coconut milk. Add a generous dash of turmeric and ground ginger, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of maple syrup. If you’re using chia seeds and/or linseeds add them in as well.
5. Cook the porridge on low/medium heat for 20min, stirring occasionally, if more liquid is needed add water or milk of choice. Taste, and if needed add more spices, maple syrup and salt.
6. If you are adding protein powder, mix it with a couple of spoons of water, and add just before you’re ready to serve . You can cook the porridge longer, if your pears still need a bit, just keep in on low flame.
7. Once you’re ready to serve, start with your porridge, top with a couple of slices of pears and a spoonful of that lovely sticky pear liquid, and any other toppings you chose to have.