Nuts & Fruits Porridge

My mother used to make this when I was 10. And I hated it. I would pull a long face and gag trying to force this down my throat. Now, I just don't understand that fussy 10 year long. These days, I wake up excited, because I can have this yummy porridge for breakfast! How much things change. 

My mother used to grind almonds, cashews, raisins, and dates with a little milk and store the ground "paste" in the fridge for up to a week. She would then mix the paste with a little more milk and hand it to me to gulp down. I would, complaining all the while. She would also make something similar with cooked carrots and beets. She would grind the carrots and beets with milk, add cardamom powder and hand it over. That, I loved. Anything with nuts though, I hated.

Now that I am grown up, I appreciate the recipe, the care, and my taste a little better. So, I came up with this version. 

Ingredients (serves 8):

1. 1/2 cup almonds (plain, un-roasted, unsalted)
2. 1/2 cup walnuts (plain, un-roasted, unsalted)
3. 1/2 cup pecans / 1/2 cup cashews (plain, un-roasted, unsalted)
4. 1/4 cup peanuts (plain, unroasted, unsalted)
5. 2 bananas, preferably ripe (chopped)
6. 4 strawberries, sliced
7. Milk, as needed (low fat, 2%)
8. 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
9. 1/2 teaspoon all-spice powder
10. some raisins
11. some blueberries

Preparation:

1. Soak the nuts - the almonds, walnuts, pecans/cashews, and peanuts in hot water for about 2 hours. Or soak the nuts in plain water overnight. 
2. Drain the nuts. No need to de-husk the almonds. Put the nuts in a food processor or blender and start grinding. Do not add any milk initially. Grind/ break down the nuts as much as possible. When they are broken down, start drizzling milk in small increments and grind the nuts. 
3. When the nuts are ground to a coarse paste, add the bananas (chopped), a drizzle of milk and blend again. 
4. Finally add the sliced strawberries, a little more milk and grind again until everything is incorporated. It's okay if there are some chunks left. The paste doesn't have to be baby smooth.
5. Transfer the paste to a box, add cinnamon powder and all spice. Mix well. Put on an air-tight lid and store in the fridge for up to one week.

Every morning, scoop out some of this prepared paste (no more than 1/3 cup), add some milk to dilute it to the consistency of porridge. Add raisins, some more fruits like blueberries on top and you have an excellent tasting porridge! And healthy. Be careful not to scoop out too much of it... this is rich and concentrated as it's made of nuts. I take no more than 1/3 cup, sometimes only 1/4 cup. It's quite filling and delicious.

You get your daily serving of nuts and some fruits. For two people, this lasts almost the entire week's share of breakfast.