This past weekend was glorious. It was a long weekend with both Friday and Monday off, and the weather was spectacular, warm, sunny, and alive. We spent our long weekend at beaches, playgrounds, gardens, having picnics in the sunshine, watching bumblebees buzz among the flours, and birds nest in the cliffs. Perfect!
So after a weekend like that, what could possibly entice a gal back into a week of productivity? Lemon ginger semolina pudding for breakfast, that’s what!
This has been my first experience with semolina pudding, and really, I don’t know how I’ve let this slip by unnoticed for so long. It’s lovely!
From what I can gather, semolina is the coarse parts of durum wheat -a hard variety of wheat- left over after the wheat has been milled and the soft flour extracted. Because it’s from a hard wheat, semolina releases it’s energy slowly, making it an excellent choice for breakfast to keep you filled up and loaded with energy until lunch. It’s high in brain boosting B-vitamins, and immunity revving selenium, as well as offering a decent amount of iron. But apart from all of this, it’s smooth, creamy, and delicious.
To get my week going I opted to flavour my pudding with the light and energizing flavours of lemon and ginger, and it was a perfect, light, but very filling breakfast for a sunny day. I think it would be really lovely with a variety of flavours though. It would be nice with cinnamon and raisins and some chopped nuts, or with some stewed or fresh fruit. There’s also a traditional South Indian or Sri Lankan breakfast dish called upma, which is a savoury version made from roasted semolina and combined with veggies. It looks delicious, and would be a lovely way to start the day off with some veg!
While checking out semolina on Pinterest just now, I even came across a recipe for chocolate semolina pudding! Can you imagine on a cold wintery morning, starting off the day with a warm creamy bowl of chocolate semolina, maybe with a bit of cinnamon? Mmmmm, chocolate semolina pudding…I’m just saying…
With a world of semolina possibilities spreading through my imagination, for today this lemon ginger semolina pudding was perfection. In fact while writing this I just polished off the second bowl!
- 50g or 1/4 cup fine semolina
- 250 ml or 3/4 cup milk of your choice
- 250 ml or 3/4 cup water
- 1 tsp peeled and finely grated ginger root
- Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
- In a medium pot, combine the semolina, milk, water, and honey. Place the pot over medium heat and bring it to a simmer. Whisking very frequently, allow the semolina to cook until it is bubbling and has thickened quite a bit, about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove it from the heat and whisk in the ginger, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla if using.
- Serve warm.
- This recipe makes a fairly runny pudding. If you'd prefer it a bit thicker you could try using 140 ml or 1/2 cup of milk and the same of water instead.
- Also, to make this recipe vegan, use a plant based milk and replace the honey with either maple syrup, or try cooking a couple of dates in with the pudding from the start.