3 Oat Porridge with Ginger Poached Quince

Good food, good company.

A series of easy, delicious recipes from some of our favourite cooks. Food to cook, eat and share in good company.

Nicola Moores, Garden-to-Table cook and manager of the beautiful Te Arai Lodge shares her recipe for 3 Oat Porridge with Ginger Poached Quince.

Heading into the cooler months, there’s nothing quite like cosying up in bed on an autumnal morning with fluffy socks, a warming morning brew and a comforting bowl of steaming porridge.

I like to combine different types of oats to create a hearty bowl of porridge that is both creamy and yet slightly chewy. The addition of steel-cut oats provides the textural element along with more substance and fibre, which helps to keep you fuller for longer. It’s best to soak the oats overnight (especially the steel-cut oats) so that they’re easier to digest and quicker to cook in the morning.  

When it comes to porridge toppings, the options are limitless! Here I’ve kept it simple and seasonal, opting for ginger poached quince and fresh figs paired with creamy coconut yoghurt, crunchy almonds, sweet currants and a sprinkling of coconut sugar which caramelizes beautifully atop the warming oats.

I hope you enjoy this humble heart-warmer as much as I do, it’s my go-to!

Dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, refined-sugar free.

Serves 2-4

Prep Time: 10 minutes (+ 8 hours to pre-soak the oats) 
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Ginger Poached Quince:
1 kg / 2 quince
40g fresh ginger
1 vanilla pod, cut in half and seeds scraped out or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cinnamon quill
3 ½ C water
¼ C classic honey
¼ C rum (optional)
Juice of 1 lemon

Porridge:
½ C steel cut oats
¼ C rolled jumbo oats
¼ rolled quick oats
2 tsp flaky sea salt
1 C water (plus 3 cups for soaking)
1 C oat milk (or milk of choice)

Toppings:
1 Tbsp coconut sugar
½ C plain coconut yoghurt
Ginger poached quince
4 fresh figs, quartered (optional)
¼ C whole blanched almonds, toasted
1 Tbsp zante currants
½ C oat milk (or milk of choice), frothed

Method:

To prepare the porridge, start the night before by putting all three types of oats into a bowl along with 1 tsp of the salt and cover with 3 cups of water. Cover with a plate and leave on the kitchen bench overnight.

To make the Ginger Poached Quince, start by peeling the quince. Remove the core, cut into bite-sized pieces and store immediately in a bowl of cold water to prevent it from browning. Peel the ginger and slice into 5mm rounds.

Drain the quince and transfer to a large saucepan along with the ginger and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the quince turns pink and is cooked but still holds its shape.

Strain the quince and set aside.

Simmer the poaching liquid with the aromatics for a further 15 minutes or until reduced by half. Once reduced, return the quince to the pan and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the porridge. Drain and rinse the oats before transferring to a medium saucepan along with the rest of the salt, water and the oat milk.

Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer, whilst stirring constantly, for 5-10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed, the rolled oats are creamy and the jumbo and steel-cut oats are chewy but tender.

Serve the porridge topped with a sprinkling of the coconut sugar and a few spoonful’s of the coconut yoghurt and the Ginger Poached Quince (as well as the fresh figs if using). Scatter over the almonds and currants and serve with a little jug of the frothed oat milk on the side.

NB: The quince will keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to a week and will only get better with time as the fruit absorbs all the flavour of the poaching liquid.

NB: Cooking quince may appear a little intimidating at first but it’s actually not too dissimilar to poaching apples or pears and in fact, if you can’t get your hands on any quince, apples or pears make a good substitute.