Unique ways to enjoy your Blue Band Instant Porridge
Sponsored by Upfield
By Elvis Ondieki
Who said porridge must land on your table looking and tasting like the stuff people used to cook when the Kapenguria Six were leaving prison?
We are in 2021 when there is instant porridge — Blue Band Instant Porridge, to be precise. You no longer have to concoct a paste and wait for it to ferment for days before preparing a good, sumptuous cup of uji.
Blue Band Instant Porridge eliminates all that hassle. You just boil water, pour into a cup, add flour and create a paste, followed by a bit more water to suit your preferred thickness, and sugar or any other sweetener. Stir and you’re good to go.
But that’s just the basic way. There are numerous ways to spice up your Blue Band Instant Porridge and make it a feast.
1. Throw some peanut butter into the mix
Peanut butter on porridge? Yes. Our grandmothers used to go to great lengths to have groundnuts mixed into their uji flour, and now we can have it in as simple as a scoop of peanut butter. The Blue Band smooth peanut butter is a great option as it helps create a drink with a great texture and taste.
2. Serve with whole roasted groundnuts
Besides peanut butter, whole, roasted and peeled groundnuts can add a rich and unique dimension to your porridge. It is the kind of meal that can shut all “tank empty” complaints from your tummy for many hours. Some people like the groundnuts chopped a bit to strike the balance between chewing and gulping down the porridge.
3. How about adding some margarine?
What’s better than supplementing the many minerals in Blue Band Instant Porridge with the nutrients available in Blue Band margarine? To spice things up with your porridge, add a teaspoonful of margarine in your final stages of stirring. Your taste buds will never desire flat porridge again. Remember, Blue Band Instant Porridge is made up of flour from sorghum, millet and maize. Such a variegated mix blends very well with margarine.
4. Plant-based additives
Cinnamon (mdalasini), tamarind (ukwaju) and lemon (limau) are among the spices you can add to your porridge to give it an irresistible flavour. It is all about making porridge that excites your palate and thus encourages you to enjoy more of the Blue Band Instant Porridge goodness.
Blue Band Instant Porridge is fortified with iodine, iron, zinc, copper and selenium. Most spices add a mineral or two to the mix and that will be a plus to your health.
5. Adding dried or freshly-chopped fruit
You can give your cup of porridge that chewy and nutritious vibe by adding some fruit. Bananas are a great option, as are strawberries and other types of berries. It will be vitamins galore on your uji because the fruits compliment the many vitamins that Blue Band Instant Porridge is fortified with, which are Vitamins A, C, D, E, B1, B2, B3, B6, and B9. What a way to boost your immunity!
