Wild Rice Porridge

I've been reading some books by Jim Northrup, an Anishinaabe writer and Vietnam war veteran who lives up north near Cloquet. He writes a column called the Fond Du Lac Follies that is printed in The Circle newspaper, though I have been reading a book compilation of the Follies from the past 10 years or so. I enjoy his writing so much! He talks about tapping trees for maple syrup and going ricing in much of his writing - and ricing season is right now, so I am thinking about it. My Charming Companion has gone ricing several times - including processing it himself, so I found myself asking questions about the knocking, drying, parching, hulling and winnowing of the rice. That lead to some storytelling about ricing, and that all seems fitting for the season.

My Charming Companion still has some wild rice left from ricing a couple of years ago that he shares with me. I don't eat it often, but I have taken to bringing some "wild rice porridge" when going to the Boundary Waters. It is delicious, delicious, delicious hot cereal that is creamy and nutty tasting. It's also really light and easy cooking, so makes a nice meal to bring while camping - especially in the fall when the mornings are cool. I'm heading up to the BWCA next week and am bringing at least two meals of wild rice porridge. There are two options for canoe entry points, but I am leaning towards Crab Lake, which includes a mile long portage at the start of the trip. I don't know, maybe it's the hiking trip from a couple of weeks ago, but somehow I am not feeling daunted by the mile long portage (which will be 3 miles because of the 2 trips to get all the stuff). It'll be a nice workout on each end of the trip, and I'll get more practice carrying the canoe. We'll see!?!

"Chocolate porridge" with coconut milk and butter - not yet mixed together!

Wild Rice Porridge
Grind wild rice in a coffee grinder. I do this in batches so that there is a more even grind. If you want to be persnickety, you could even sift the rice "flour" so as to have really consistent grains. But I usually don't do that step and just grind to have a product that will be finer than cornmeal, but not as fine as white flour. *One important note here is that this works with true wild rice and not the kind from a paddy field (at least, I've never tried it, but the cooking times vary so much that I don't think it would be the same, and certainly not as good due to less flavor in the paddy rice). True wild rice is lighter (on the right), whereas the paddy kind is dark.

The water to wild rice flour ratio is 4:1. I generally eat 1/4 cup of the flour - though on a canoe trip that is closer to 1/3 cup. For an extra treat, add in some cocoa powder to the wild rice flour - it makes it even richer and more delicious. 

Mixed up a bit. YUM!

The only tricky part to making the porridge is that the wild rice can sometimes clump up (much like my cream of wheat used to when I was a kid) - so it is helpful to have a mini-whisk to break up any globs. I boil the water first, than whisk in the wild rice because it seems to result in less lumps. The cooking does not take long because the rice starts to thicken and absorb the water right away. Stir while it cooks and keep the heat low. If it is going pretty slowly, you can also cover the pot (after your whisking) to let it finish.

Serve with cream or coconut milk, butter and a little sweetener. Maple syrup is amazing here if you want to go all out.