Millet & Quinoa Porridge

Being a FTWM means I do not have the luxury to prepare home-cooked meals for my LO just prior to her meal time. But that does not mean I have to resort to feeding her instant food. Now, please don't get offended, it is just my personal preferences for I am not comfortable to feed food that have a long shelf life. In order to have a long shelf life, some form of preservatives must have been added right?

Ok, let me just share what I do. In order for me to prepare home cooked food for LO, I rely very much on my trusty Thermos Shuttle Chef. This is by far my favourite pot as I only need to boil for 10-15mins, then off I am to work. There will be no worries of a short circuit, as no electricity is used for it to function. Of course there are also other brands in the market with such pots that use thermal heat to continue cooking.

Today I decided to cook Huai San （淮山）as the main ingredient in her porridge, as it is known to be packed with nutrients. Remember the pork bones soup I prepared over the weekend? I will be using it to give it some "oomph" in her porridge.

In my course of experimenting with grains, I have fallen in love with millet, due to its nutty taste and also quinoa (pronounced as keen-wah), which is another superfood. This is how they look like :-

Due to their tiny size, I used a sieve to wash them. It is a must to wash quinoa thoroughly if not there will be a bitter taste. Prior to cooking them , I do soaked them overnight. This is a personal preference, you can choose not to soak them. Why I soak them is to remove the phytic acid so that it aids digestion.

For those of you who have not seen Huai San, this is how it looks like (pictured with jap pumpkin)

All of my ingredients today : Huai San & Pumpkin (Diced), Threadfin (Diced), Minced Pork Loin, Wolfberries

After adding all my grains, ingredients and stock into the inner pot of my trusty Shuttle Chef, I let it simmer on the stove for approx. 10mins til it starts bubbling. Then I will cover it with its lid and put it into the outer pot of my Shuttle Chef. Then off to work I go! See? Easy peasy!

This is how my porridge looks like after I return home almost 11hours later...

The porridge is still piping hot. The key is to ensure the inner pot is at least half-filled so that heat can be retained longer. This is how it works for all thermal pots, flasks etc.

So what do you think? :)