Cardamom and Pear Porridge

I’m going through a cardamom phase.

I just can’t get enough of it.

I think it’s a winter thing – cinnamon, cloves and all those warming winter spices.

Cardamom is a spice that comes from the seeds of plants in the ginger family and it’s one of the main spices used in Indian curries. It also features in sweet Middle Eastern and Scandinavian recipes such as my recent discovery, kannellbuller, which are Swedish cinnamon buns. These delightful things are really fiddly to make, which is just as well as they are so incredibly more-ish (and full of sugar and butter!!).

Because I can’t eat kannelbuller every day, I’ve been playing around with cardamom in more day to day healthy recipes, such as porridge. We all know what a great breakfast porridge is – oat are high in fibre and provide slow release energy.

Now here’s a way you can pimp your porridge up, with the addition of a few cardamom pods and some sliced pear. Here’s how you do it.

For best results, soak the cardamom pods in milk overnight.

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Energy facts:

Oats are a great source of dietary fibre and they are a wholegrain which means they release their energy more slowly than processed grains. They also contain B vitamins, iron and magnesium, all of which are essential micronutrients for energy. Pecans and walnuts are good sources of healthy fats, as well as B complex vitamins, iron and magnesium. Pears are good source of dietary fibre and they contain minerals such as copper, iron, potassium, manganese and magnesium as well as B-complex vitamins.