Semolina porridge (“gris cu lapte” in Romanian) has been one on our breakfast menu since little gosling was about 9 months. We had not thought of it before granny came to visit and insisted on making him some. It’s one of the kids’ delights back home. It’s a quick and easy recipe with only two basic ingredients: milk and semolina (preferably fine grain one), in a 10:1 proportion, that need to be stirred continuously until combined in a smooth porridge. 

My mom was completely disconcerted at the idea of making it without sugar – we have been following a no sugar added baby diet -; also because it meant making it without sugar for all of us and my parents like their sugar. Consequently, she always makes it in two batches, without and with sugar added. My husband is the breakfast cook in the family and his porridges are delicious.  

Before that moment, I had not had semolina porridge outside pre-school (the 4 o’clock snack) or my parents’ home (usually as a late evening desert, when mostly my dad felt like eating something sweet). And it was always served sprinkled with sugar and covered with a fine layer of cinnamon. That was the only way I had known it and I was convinced that was “the way” to serve it. 

When my mom made it for little gosling, I did not like it with cinnamon and without sugar; so I tasted my husband’s and kind of never had it the old way since. My husband’s childhood semolina porridge was always with jam… It had never occurred to me (and my parents to this day completely reject this option). It was delicious with jam. We had a nice homemade strawberry jam at the time, from our local market. Later on, I discovered mango jam from a local farm and fell in love with it (we were living in South Africa at the time); it makes the best tasting semolina porridge for me. 

Little gosling and his dad have it with different toppings, such as: mashed banana; mashed (fresh) figs; hazelnut (or peanut) butter; maple syrup or honey, in various combinations, depending on what we have at home. Semolina pudding with hazelnut butter, mashed banana and a bit of maple syrup is my second favourite. It beats the pudding with some types of jam, for me.