When I saw the simplicity of this recipe I thought I'd give it a go although I must admit I wondered where the flavour would come from. As this type of porridge is alien to me I thought perhaps it would be more like a soup and therefore suitable for lunch (it was afterall, in the mains section).
I followed the recipe with the exception of using ordinary mushrooms, used chicken thighs cut into 2cm dice and used the cranberry option. I blitzed 5 dried mushrooms thinking this would add to the flavour that the shitakes may have added and put these in with the water and rice in the first step.
At the end of the cooking, I had a taste (it looked like a soup) but it was tasteless which was no surprise so I added a tablespoon of chicken stock and 3 finely sliced spring onions, cooked it for another 2 minutes and it was then pretty darn good.
It thickened up slightly by leaving it for a few minutes before serving and I imagine when we eat the leftovers we may be able to eat them with a fork like risotto.
Verdict - 4/5 in the end but before the additions 0/5. I will certainly do it again but next time will add more chicken. I had a pack of 370g thawed out but the recipe stipulates only 100g and I should have added the lot.
