Mango Season: Part II

When I was a kid there was never a box of cereal in the house. At least not the colorful, full of attractive toucans, leprechauns, or rabbits that every 70s kid loved. I remember drooling over the cereal tv ads, begging my mum to get one when we went to the supermarket, and not understanding why at other kid’s houses they did have them. I even thought we were poor because we never had those boxes of cereal, coke or chips. Maybe once or twice I think I got them to buy me a box of apple jacks. But to remember it like almost a party must mean it was something really extraordinary.

I grew up with oatmeal, and sometimes cream of wheat, and loved it. That was our cereal. And now I realize how lucky I was that I didn’t eat bowls of artificially dyed refined flours loaded with sugar for breakfast as a kid.

Now that I am a mum of a toddler, it’s the same, I never keep a box of “cereal” in the house. In order to make things a little easier for my son when we go to the grocery store, I skip the cereal aisles, as well as the cookies, chips and a few other aisles.

The cereals we have are real foods, usually steel cut oats, quinoa or my latest favorite: rice. Recently after an overnight oats craze that I had, I discovered brown rice porridge. It has got to be one of the most calming, comforting breakfasts ever. Since the weather is hot right now I am doing a cold version of it.

I got inspired for the recipe I am sharing here by the flavours of a dessert I used to have a lot when I lived in Monterrey, from a restaurant called Madre Oaxaca. It was a “mousse de arroz con leche y salsa de mango”, that’s the traditional rice with milk treat, topped with a mango sauce and lot’s of cinnamon.

I tried to get those flavours, but also added raw cacao for a chocolatey taste which contrasts with the sweetness of the mango and makes it super yummy.

If you like to have cereal for breakfast, maybe you’d like to give this a try. It’s really easy to make. And if you do, please share your experience in the comments section.

Rice Porridge with Mango and Cacao

1 serving

1/3 cup cooked brown rice

1/3 cup mango cut in cubes

1 tbsp raw cacao nibs

1 tsp cinnamon (you can use half tsp if you prefer, I like it cinnamony)

1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut milk

Add everything in layers to a bowl, starting with the first ingredient, all the way to the last. In the end add the coconut milk. Stir a little with a spoon and eat! You can make it the night before and keep it in the fridge if you don’t have time in the morning, that way you just grab it when you wake up.