Black Tea Infused Irish Porridge with Acai Berry Ripple + Pistachio Cream.

Name: Black Tea Infused Irish Porridge with Acai Berry Ripple + Pistachio Cream.
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup steal cut oats (or use gluten free oats if needed); 1 1/2 cups coconut milk or almond milk (plus more if needed); 1 teaspoon vanilla bean (seeds removed or 1 vanilla); 2 black tea bags; 2 tablespoons honey (or to taste); fresh berries (pistachios and honey, for topping); 1 cup frozen or fresh berries (I used frozen black berries and Blueberries); 2 tablespoons Acai Powder*; 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or honey; 1/2-3/4 cup full-fat canned coconut milk; 1/4 cup roasted (shelled pistachios)

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March 10, 2015

Posted in Breakfast, Gluten-Free, Snacks, St. Patrick's Day, Vegan, Vegetarian

I feel so grown up.

Black Tea Infused Irish Porridge with Acai Berry Ripple + Pistachio Cream | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Making porridge and all. It just feels like a grown up thing to do, you know?

Porridge can be looked at as such a boring food, but wow, it’s so not boring. And it’s SO cozy – and perfectly healthy too! Normally cozy and healthy don’t always go together, but well today they do. Yeaaahh.

SO. I made tea infused porridge. I still find it totally weird that I despise drinking tea, but love using it in cooking. Now that I think of it though, I guess it’s the same for me with coffee and booze. Jeez, maybe I have a beef with drinks in general? I am pretty much a “water only” girl? That seems so insanely boring. Wait, wait, wait. Let me think for a second. There has got to be a drink other than water that I like. While, I really hate any kind of soda/pop. Oh, I love smoothies, and milkshakes (DUH), those count, right? Juice tends to give me kind of headache, but I still like the taste of it, so yeah, I’m not a “water only” girl… but man I am kind of picky about my drinks. LAME.

And now that we are all up on my drinking habits, we might as well continue being off topic and talk about that fact my little sister just told me she thinks there should be an entire holiday for cats. She doesn’t understand why bunnies get a whole holiday (Easter) and why cats get – notta. I told her I really didn’t know, cause I don’t, and let me tell you, she did not like that answer. She went on and on and on about the how cats need a holiday and blah, blah, blah, blah. The girl really likes to talk and since my mom is still in China and my dad is semi lost on how to handle a girl for an entire week on his own, Asher has been spending a lot of time with me. I love her, but man, she needs one of those twisty key-like things so you can turn her off! Seriously.

I have to say though, my dad is doing kind of an awesome job with her. He spent the whole day on Saturday taking her horseback riding, which she LOVED. Then on Sunday he didn’t know what to do with her, so he thought a bike ride to the park would be a good idea. Well, little miss princess was not happy about this. TOO COLD and TOO MUDDY she said, and she does not like being dirty. Apparently she needs to look beautiful ALL THE TIME. Yikes.

Pretty sure dad was happy for the reprieve come Monday morning. There is probably a reason he had five boys and only two girls…

Alrighty then. Now I feel like we can go back to focusing on this tea infused Irish porridge with acai. The perfect everyday breakfast if you ask me. It’s quick, pretty fuss free, healthy and super delish.

The black tea infused Irish steel-cut oats are awesome. The tea lends such a nice light and subtle flavor them, while the vanilla and coconut milk (or almond if you want) add a little sweetness and flavor. The really awesome part though is the creaminess. I love warm and creamy. Really I do.

But the COLOR! Gosh, I love color. Color makes the world a better (and brighter) place. <–fact. The color that the acai berries give to this porridge just gives an extra pop and makes you want to dig right in.

I am sure a lot of you have heard of Acai by now as it is becoming pretty popular. I think it is most commonly used in acai smoothie bowls and most commonly seen in a frozen Acai pack. Acai berries are a tropical superfood. I am not sure if you can actually buy the berries in whole form, but what I did was to use acai berry powder. You can use the frozen packs if you want, but I like the powder best for this ripple. Which by the way is so good. Honestly though, I pretty much say that about all fruit dishes. Fruit is my thing.

Oh, but I did have one of my first negatives on fruit the other day. I found seeds in my pineapple! IT WASN’T cool. I googled it and apparently pineapples can have seeds. Didn’t like it. Just sayin.

And then the pistachio cream. Sure, you could just use regular coconut milk or cream, but that would be boring. Pistachio cream however? Well let’s just say I might start using it like milk. So flipping good. No joke. Triple the recipe. Use it/drink it with everything.

And now, hopefully you can go make this porridge (thankfully, because I am done ranting). Or at least plan on making some porridge. FYI, it’s really delicious for lunch too.

5 from 1 vote

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

The Recipe

Black Tea Infused Irish Porridge with Acai Berry Ripple + Pistachio Cream.

By halfbakedharvest

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: berry, pistachio, porridge

Porridge can be looked at as such a boring food, but wow, it's so not boring. And it's SO cozy - and perfectly healthy too! Normally cozy and healthy don't always go together, but well today they do. Yeaaahh.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 2 Bowls

Calories 837 kcal

Ingredients

Porridge

1/2 cup steal cut oats or use gluten free oats if needed
1 1/2 cups coconut milk or almond milk plus more if needed
1 teaspoon vanilla bean seeds removed or 1 vanilla
2 black tea bags
2 tablespoons honey or to taste
fresh berries pistachios and honey, for topping

Acai Berry Ripple

1 cup frozen or fresh berries I used frozen black berries and Blueberries
2 tablespoons Acai Powder*
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or honey

Pistachio Cream

1/2-3/4 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
1/4 cup roasted shelled pistachios

Instructions

Porridge

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine 1/2 cup water, the coconut milk (or almond milk), the oats, vanilla bean, tea bags and a pinch of salt, bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the oats are tender and creamy, about 20-30 minutes. Remove the tea bags and use a fork to squeeze them dry against the pan to release the steeped tea into the porridge. Remove the vanilla bean. Stir in the honey and add milk to reach your desired consistency.

Acai Ripple

While the oats are cooking, prepare the acai ripple. Add the berries, acai powder, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons water to a blender or high powered food processor. Blend until smooth.

Pistachio Cream

Add the coconut milk and pistachios to a high powdered blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth, about five minutes. Be sure to scrape the sides down if needed throughout blending.

To Serve

Divide the warm porridge among two bowls. Add about a tablespoon of acai sauce to each bowl and swirl. You can also layer the porridge and acai sauce for a prettier presentation. Drizzle each bowl with the pistachio cream and top with berries + chopped pistachios. Drizzle with honey.

Recipe Notes

*Acai powder can purchased at health food stores or here on [Amazon | http://www.amazon.com/SAMBAZON-Organic-Freeze-Dried-Antioxidant-Superfood/dp/B0016BAB42/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425862383&sr=8-2&keywords=acai+powder+organic]. You may also use 1 frozen acai pack in place of the acai powder, but note that you will have a decent amount of acai sauce if you use the frozen pack.

Or a hearty mid-day, “it’s Tuesday and I wish it was Friday”, snack. Yeah.

If you make this recipe, be sure to tag your photo #halfbakedharvest.