Blueberry porridge

Put the oats and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Turn the heat down and cook for 5 minutes, stirring all the time.

Serve topped with blueberries.

How to cook porridge

There are all sorts of different ways to cook porridge, depending on the time and facilities you have available. Traditional Scottish porridge is cooked on the hob using a spurtle, a wooden stirring implement. Nowadays, lots of people speed things up by cooking their porridge in the microwave. The chunkier the oats you use, the longer it will take for the milk to soften them up. There’s also the option of making “overnight oats” by mixing up your porridge ingredients and leaving them to steep and soften overnight before warming them up quickly the next morning.

Different toppings for porridge

The sky’s the limit when it comes to porridge toppings – anything goes, from fresh and dried fruit to nuts, seeds, chocolate, jam, yoghurt and even peanut butter. Here are ten recipe suggestions if you’re looking for inspiration. If sweet porridge is too run of the mill for you, why not try congee, a savoury rice porridge dish popular for breakfast all over Asia.