This Vegan Porridge is a healthy version of a famous rice porridge or “Jok” from Thailand. With only a little bit of grains, a fair amount of legumes, and lots of vegetables, this can be a healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Missing a trip back to Thailand during this pandemic, I crave all kinds of Thai foods. To make me feel at home, I started to cook Thai foods more often.
However, the Thai foods I cook are not exactly the same as Thai foods in Thailand. Why?
First of all, not all the ingredients I need can be found where I am right now. Second of all, I don’t eat animal products anymore, so my Thai food versions are meatless. Third of all, I prefer to substitute some ingredients that are shipped directly from Thailand with ingredients I can find locally.
Even though my version of Thai food is pretty different, I try to maintain the key ingredients and make it taste as similar as I can. The flavors of Thai food are comforting and bring me closer to home—regardless where I am.
With this Vegan Porridge, instead of having just rice as the main ingredient, I add all kinds of vegetables I like.
I make this with sprouted brown rice, white rice and rolled oats.They all work great, but white rice and rolled oats are easier and faster to cook. Brown rice takes longer to cook and make it soft the way “Jok” is. I usually sprout it first to make it more digestible.
As for proteins, I usually use either lentils or beans. I also sprout all of them first. If I use lentils, I just cook them raw at the same time with the rice—right after they are sprouted.
It’s not the same with the beans though, I usually cook them first as they take longer to cook.
To make this dish healthy & ready to eat, I use a lot of vegetables and cook everything together in one pot. You can use any kind of vegetables you like to eat with this, although one thing you can leave out or substitute is ginger. Ginger makes this Vegan Porridge taste like the real Thai “Jok”
Once I have everything cooked, it’s so easy to make it taste better. Simply adding a little of good salt, this Vegan Porridge is ready to be served. If you want to make it even better, a little bit of soy sauce can give it umami flavor that binds all the vegetables flavors together.
Another important ingredient that makes this Vegan Porridge taste closer to the original “Jok” is white pepper. Sprinkle some directly to the pot while cooking or add it in a bowl before eating, it gives a mild taste of spiciness that is really good.
Serve while it’s warm with a side dish of greens, fermented vegetables such as kimchi and some olive oil, don’t be surprised if you get a second or third.
Ready to make Vegan Porridge? Let me show you how!
Ingredients for Vegan Porridge:
grains choices
Note: feel free to use this as a guideline, adjust and substitute however you like.
plant protein choices
vegetables choices
seasoning options
- About 6 cups (1,440 ml) of filtered water
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) of grains, either sprouted brown rice, white rice, or rolled oats
- ½ cup (120 ml) or more of either lentils, or pre cooked bean (sprouted are preferable)
- About 1 cup (240 ml) of each kind of vegetables you like such as onion, carrots, celery, cauliflower, mushroom, artichoke hearts etc.
- A thumb size of fresh ginger
- About 1tsp (5 ml) of good salt
- About 2 TBSP (15 ml) or more of soy sauce
- Some white pepper
Instructions:
- Rinse the grains well and put it in a soup pot, followed by the protein you want.
- Cover them with about 4 cups (960 ml) of filtered water. (add more later)
- Cook on medium heat. (I usually cook it uncovered as it tends to get overflow easily when I don’t watch it.)
- While the rice is being cooked, let’s get the vegetables ready. If you use the same kinds of vegetables I show, simply follow the same sequences. Start by cutting onions, carrots and celery first. These vegetables are great for making soup broth.
- When the rice reaches a full boil, add the onions, carrots and celery. Mix and add more water if it’s low. Continue to cook.
- While the soup is cooking, cut the cauliflowers and add them when the soup reaches another boil. Mix and let it continue to cook.
- In the meantime, finely chop the ginger and add it in and mix.
- Now, let’s prepare softer kinds of vegetables. Rinse the mushrooms and cut the canned artichoke hearts and put them in. Mix and add more water if needed.
- Turn the heat down and let it continue to cook covered. (now that everything is in the pot, you should have time to watch it so it doesn’t get overflow)
- When it reaches a boil, it’s time to season it. Add a little bit of salt, mix and taste. If you want it saltier, you can either add more salt or soy sauce, then mix and taste. Add some white pepper if you like it to be a little bit spicy.
- When you are happy with how it tastes, it’s done. Turn the heat off and keep it covered until you are ready to eat.
- Serve warm with a side dish of steamed broccoli, olive oil and fermented vegetables. Enjoy!
Have you made this Vegan Porridge? Please share it with me, I’d like to hear about it!
