A watercolour of oat porridge with chopped dates and a swirl of tahini
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Adapted from Stovetop porridge, taken in the direction of Levantine breakfast sweets rather than sugar

Porridge with dates and tahini

An established dish converted to shelf-stable ingredients. Every substitution is documented below.

How long it keeps

About 6 months, set by Dates (dried, pitted).

Indicative, for planning a build before you buy. The answer for a pack you already own is the best before date printed on it, and that only holds if it has been stored as the label says.

Serves
2
Burners
1
Pans
1
Water
0.6 L
Active
6 min
Total
12 min

Ingredients

Sweet porridge usually means sugar on top, which sweetens the first spoonful and nothing after it. Dates chopped in at the start sweeten the whole pan.

The tahini is the part people do not expect. Porridge without fat tastes thin, and a spoonful of tahini stirred through at the end gives it body and a faint bitterness that stops the dates being sickly.

  1. Chop the dates roughly. Whisk the milk powder into 500 ml of cold water, powder into hot liquid lumps and stays lumpy.
  2. Oats, dates, cinnamon and a proper pinch of salt in. Gentle simmer, stirring, 5 to 6 minutes until it thickens.
  3. Off the heat, stir the tahini through until it disappears.

Salt matters more than the sweetness. Unsalted porridge tastes of nothing and people reach for more sugar to fix a problem that is not sweetness.

Serves 2. Make what you will eat. Reconstituted milk powder is ordinary milk from the moment the water goes in, and cooked porridge does not keep without a fridge.

What this was adapted from

Stovetop porridge, taken in the direction of Levantine breakfast sweets rather than sugar

  • brown sugar or honey → chopped dried dates, added with the oats

    Dates dissolve into hot liquid and sweeten the whole pan rather than sitting on top, so you need far less of them than of sugar. They also bring their own body, which thickens the porridge slightly.

  • butter or cream to finish → a spoonful of tahini stirred through

    Porridge wants fat or it tastes thin, and neither butter nor cream keeps. Tahini is shelf-stable, adds a savoury bitterness that stops it cloying, and emulsifies into the oats rather than sitting as a slick.