Name: Scottish-Style Savoury Daliya Porridge
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Scottish
Ingredients: 100 g Kathiya daliya, fine grade; 500 ml water; half a teaspoon fine salt; 1 tablespoon cold-pressed sesame oil or butter, to finish; 1 a heavy-bottomed pan; 1 a spurtle or wooden spoon; 1 a lid, for resting the porridge; 1 a measuring jug

Before you cook

Traditional Scottish porridge is salted, never sweetened, and the salt goes in with the water rather than at the table. That single choice changes the whole character.

Stir with a spurtle or a wooden spoon in one direction. It sounds superstitious but it genuinely keeps the texture smoother.

Method

Bring the water to the boil in a heavy-bottomed pan.
Add the salt to the water before any grain goes in.
Sprinkle in the daliya gradually while stirring constantly.
Drop the heat to a bare simmer once it comes back to a bubble.
Stir regularly in one direction to stop it catching on the base.
Cook for fifteen minutes, watching the texture thicken steadily.
Add a splash more water if it thickens faster than the grain softens.
Taste a spoonful to check the grain is fully tender, not merely swollen.
Rest off the heat, covered, for two minutes before serving.
Finish each bowl with a swirl of oil or a knob of butter.

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