Grain-Free Paleo Porridge Recipe ― Low-Carb Hot Cereal

Well everybody, Saint Patrick's Day is here, and I presume you know what this means: Cabbage! Seriously, over at Stop and Shop it was selling for 29¢ a pound. Needless to say, I got quite a bit of it. Now I'm not gonna lie, this post has just about as much to do with St. Patrick's Day as KFC does with Christmas(outside of Japan), save for the fact that it's a cabbage recipe. Still, I hope you find good use for this most special week of two recipes.

You probably know by now that I love to experiment with my food, especially when vegetables of the cruciferous variety are involved. And if you've seen my recipe for giant Gaia Oats at only 210 calories, then you know I really like oatmeal, after all, what's not to like about it? It's thick, warm, filling, tasty; it just seems like a good breakfast. There's only one real catch: it's almost pure carbs. Rolled oats aren't too calorically dense, at only around 150 calories per 1/2 cup serving, but if you want to add anything to it, that number can easily start edging up. Even if you're not worried about only calories, there are plenty of folks who prefer to stay away from grains, such as rice, corn, wheat, and of course, oats. And even if you eat grains most of the time, those who observe the holiday of Passover have to mostly avoid them when the festival rolls around. Well, what if I told you I had a workaround? I've made a recipe for a tasty, creamy porridge made from...

You guessed it: cabbage!

Mhmm! You heard me right, this porridge uses cabbage as its main ingredient! No oats. No grains. Just veggies! And if you're worried this recipe doesn't taste like the oatmeal you love, you'd be right. This cruciferous cereal actually tastes like a cross between a creamy porridge and rice pudding! Not a cabbagey flavor to speak of. Now let's cut to the chase: how do you make it?

As it turns out, there's a whole lot you can do with cabbage after you grind it to a rice-like texture. I guess people also make a lot of dishes from cauliflower prepared in this manner, but I find cabbage is usually more easily available, and that it works excellently. I prepared one quarter of a head of green cabbage, which seems to come out to just around 1 cup of cabbage rice: our new alternative to rolled oats.

Meanwhile, I bring a mixture of 1/3 cup 2% fat milk and 1 cup water to a boil on my stovetop. Once it starts to boil, I lower the heat, letting it come to a simmer, and add in the cabbage. For flavoring, I add vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and just a pinch of ginger.As it cooks, I occasionally stir the cabbage to try to distribute everything just about evenly. While the porridge simmers, the cabbage incorporates into the liquid and seems to absorb some of it, and some of it also evaporates away, so the meal becomes less of just ground cabbage sitting in liquid.

After a little over ten minutes, I'd say it had simmered enough. I crack an egg into a bowl and whisk it in preparation for the next step. This time, I'm using a whole egg, but just the whites could also be used for less fat and fewer calories. I'm going to try doing that next time I make this; I don't think it would negatively impact the flavor. Once the egg is whisked, I take the pot off of heat and steadily and carefully whisk in the egg. If the egg is added too quickly or not mixed well enough, it might just cook into an omelette in the middle of the porridge. Wrong breakfast.

Once the egg is mixed in, we're done! The cabbage porridge("cabbidge"? "porbage?" "corridge"?) tastes rich and creamy, reminiscent of both traditional porridge and rice pudding. While I'm presenting this as a breakfast, it would also make a pretty nice dessert with a little sweetener and/or some raisins or other fruit. I've tried making it savory, also, without adding any milk to it, but when cooked in this way, the cabbage doesn't seem to incorporate with the liquid very well, so until I can perfect it, cabbage congee may be but a dream.

Beautiful, ain't it?

Another really nice thing about this recipe is that it's totally Kosher for Passover, regardless of your stance on any of the particular details of the observance, although you may have to forgo the vanilla extract or find a special kind.

Cabbage Porridge Recipe

Serves: 1

Calories Per Serving(with 2% milk): ~110 w/ egg white, ~175 with whole egg

Ingredients:

• 1/4 small-medium head green cabbage(or around 1 cup riced)
• 1/3 cup milk or substitute of choice
• 1 large egg or egg white
• Drop of vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Cinnamon
• Nutmet
• Water

Instructions:

1. Bring a mixture of of the milk with 2/3 cup water to a boil. Once it boils, lower the heat and bring to a simmer.
2. Pulse your cabbage in a food processor or blender into a rice-consistency. Process as evenly as possible, then add to the milk mixture, which should still be simmering.
3. Add a pinch of salt, a drop of vanilla extract, and other spices or flavoring as desired. Let the mixture simmer, stirring occasionally, until little to no excess liquid is visible, approximately 10 minutes.
4. Crack an egg into a bowl and whisk. You may use only the egg white if you like; beat it slightly if you do.
5. Remove the porridge from heat and slowly add in the egg, thoroughly stirring as you do so to prevent it from cooking solid.