How do you feel about vegetables for breakfast? As a fan of sweet breakfasts, I have to admit that it’s something I never really considered until recently when I was thinking about pumpkin pie (ah yes, daydreaming…).
Americans really know how to cook with pumpkin – when I was last in the states I had the most amazing chocolate pumpkin pie and the memory of it got me thinking how I could adapt those flavours into my favourite meal of the day (no, really!)
Well, here is what I came up with! I used sweet potato instead because pumpkin can be a faff to prepare (and those tins of pumpkin puree seem to be ever more difficult to find here in the UK), added warming spices, cacao, dates and maple – and hey presto, a tasty hot porridge that will also boost your veggies intake!
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup/110g oats
- 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 4 medjool dates, pitted
- 1½ cups/375ml milk of choice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or seeds from 1 pod)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 Tbsp raw cacao powder
- maple syrup (or sweetener of choice) to taste (I used 2 tsp)
METHOD
- Steam the potatoes for 15 minutes, until falling apart. Place in a food processor with the dates and ½ cup/125ml of the milk and process until smooth.
- Meanwhile, combine the remaining ingredients in a large pan and stir in the sweet potato mixture.
- Cook gently on the hob for 15 minutes, adding extra milk or water as necessary. Alternatively, you can mix the sweet potato mixture with the rest of the ingredients in a tupperware or bowl and leave covered in the fridge overnight before heating in the microwave in the morning (again, loosening up with extra milk or water if needed).
- Serve topped with your choice of toppings. I recommend any (or all!) of these: nut butter, coconut yogurt, cacao nibs, dark chocolate and toasted coconut flakes.
