Very Healthy Oatmeal, Rhubarb, Orange and Ginger Pudding

Submitted by Ethan UK

"Spotting the Rhubarb patch in the garden whilst 'watering' the dog this morning I decided upon a unusual variant of a breakfast I make several times a week. I was especially hungry this morning but didn't want to bump up the calories as I've been pigging out on fruit scones much more than I should have for the last few days so I wanted to make it as big as possible, but harmlessly. I've also been making soda bread recently so ideas kind of gelled together. This was a really special sweet treat which just happened to fill the role of being a healthy breakfast that filled me up nicely, and kids young and old will adore it. I'm definitely doing it again. I called it a pudding because it really was like eating a delicious dessert pudding, but for breakfast!! - plus this would also be particularly nice set cold and firm and served with ice-cream or nonfat sweetened Greek-Style Yogurt (or cream?!). I imagine it would be miles better made with buttermilk but I didn't want to open any fresh cartons so I used dried milk as I don't keep or use fresh milk. This is very low in fat and calories (about 300 - 350 with quantities as listed using all the low fat and low sugar options) and is incredibly good for you as it contains lots of calcium, riboflavin, Vitamin C, minerals and a whole host of other good stuff. The fact that it tastes absolutely wonderful is a superb bonus! I expect it would re-size very easily although you might want to adjust sweetness if you did - but that's a personal taste thing anyway!"

 

• Ready In: 10mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 1

ingredients

• 57 g oatmeal or 59.16 ml oatmeal
• 1.23 ml vanilla flavoring (preferably artificial)
• 130 g rhubarb (Cooked, but very firm, roughly 3 Tablespoons) or 127.57 g rhubarb (Cooked, but very firm, roughly 3 Tablespoons)
• 9.86 ml orange juice (preferably freshly made, To Taste)
• 3.69 ml ground ginger (To taste)
• 24.64 ml Splenda sugar substitute (To taste) or 24.64 ml sugar (To taste)
• 2.46 ml baking soda
• 3.69 ml cream of tartar
• 2.46 ml caraway seed (optional, To taste)
• 10 g nonfat dry milk powder or 14.79 ml nonfat dry milk powder
• 354.88 110 ml milk (plus 235ml water) or 118.29 ml milk (plus 1 cup water, omitting the dried milk)
• 12 g marmalade (Chunky Orange) or 4.92 ml marmalade (Chunky Orange)
• 7.39 ml nonfat yogurt or 7.39 ml cream
• 11.09 ml wheat bran (completely optional, for a chewier, wheatier texture and taste) or 5 g wheat bran (completely optional, for a chewier, wheatier texture and taste)

directions

1. For the topping, in an egg cup or other small pot put a medium size teaspoon of marmalade. Add enough Boiling water (not much!) to soften to a thick paste.
2. Measure the Oatmeal into pan. ('Porridge Oats' here in the UK). Personally I find 'quick oats' a real disappointment as I like the texture of the rolled oats, but if you must -- :).
3. Add ground ginger, vanilla flavouring (and caraway seeds if using them).
4. Add dried milk if using it - or fresh milk/ buttermilk plus water to make total 1 1/2 cups (345ml) of liquids.
5. Either squish a quarter of an orange, including pulp (but not rind or pips!) into the pan or add the orange juice.
6. Bring to a gentle boil on a moderate heat and reduce heat to simmer once boiling point reached, stirring occasionally.
7. Once it has thickened (to personal taste) almost to the point of being ready to eat (about 2 or 3 minutes), if using it, add the wheat bran. Please bear in mind the bran will soak up quite a bit of water and thicken the mixture. I just added it because I like a chewier texture and the 'seriously good for you, wholesome' flavour, but absolutely a matter of personal taste!
8. Whether adding bran or not, when nearly thick enough, add the rhubarb and about 3 teaspoons Splenda or sugar. Canned rhubarb is fine - probably better actually. I can buy unsweetened canned rhubarb but if using sweetened rhubarb then you'll probably want to decrease the total sugar a bit.
9. Add the Cream of Tartar and gently stir it in well.
10. Add the good 1/2 tsp or so of baking soda and immediately stir it in gently but very quickly - it rises a lot immediately.
11. Increase the heat a bit, stirring continuously to mix well. Bring to desired thickness stirring as necessary then pour into serving bowl.
12. Top with the yoghurt. Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of artificial sweetener / sugar across the top. (I expect brown sugar would be especially nice!) I sprinkled a bit more ground ginger across the top as well as I really like ginger! Pour the prepared marmalade sauce across the yoghurt.
13. SERVE AND DEVOUR!
14. A passing thought about a slight oversight of mine -- I weighed the uncooked rhubarb to be 70g and forgot to weigh it once cooked and before adding it. The 130g cooked rhubarb is a guess - but the volume measure (about 3 tablespoons) was about what the 70g uncooked rhubarb became after cooking.

15. VARIATIONS:

16. A couple of delicious ideas that I've not tried yet but probably will --.
17. A baked dessert could be made by preparing with either rhubarb, large chunks of drained canned peach slices/pineapple, large chunks of peeled apple and/or sultanas into a suitable baking dish with perhaps 1/2 cup of flour (wholemeal would probably be really good for this) plus a bit more sweetness, baking in a medium oven for 1/2 to 3/4 hour or so. Also you could change the vanilla for almond essence (but surely not with rhubarb!) Then either eating, topped with toasted oats or chopped nuts and brown sugar (and maybe fine-chopped candied ginger, or maybe a couple of tablespoons orange marmalade / canned peach slices pulped though your fingers, a pineapple ring or whatever depending on what's in the middle). Served warm with custard and maybe strawberry/apricot jam/preserve, or set firm and cold with ice-cream or sweetened greek-style (nonfat) yoghurt.
18. Or the baked dessert could be left to cool somewhat and then topped with (maybe a layer of strawberry/apricot jam/preserve, then) a nice vanilla egg-custard, left to set, then topped as before with toasted oats, candied ginger or whatever.
19. With acknowledgments to Toni Gifford's excellent Ginger Peach Oatmeal #112474 which I spotted the other day which must have been there at the back of my mind for the idea about peaches!
20. Just ideas running wild through my head!
21. Do enjoy eating, and maybe playing with this recipe! :).

Reviews

[Mia in Germany]

Hidden in the depth of my freezer I found some left over frozen rhubarb from last year's crop, so I had to try this. Don't let you put off by the length of the instructions, after reading them once the whole dish is quite quickly put together, and boy, is it worth it! This was one of the best oatmeals I've had. I used ground flax seeds instead of bran, natural vanilla instead of artificial and rice milk instead of water and / or milk or dry milk. This will be a kepper - I'm looking forward to the next rhubarb season :) Thanks for sharing! Made for Healthy Choices ABC.