Hot cereal, also called porridge or kasha, is made of boiled whole or crushed grains. Great for babies, children and adults.
I grew up with hot cereal for breakfast, and I didn't get used to cold cereal. I can appreciate nuts and raisins in granola, but hard raw oats still puzzle me. Small cardboard-like flakes or little crackers you intentionally make mushy don't seem appetizing at all. Convenience is no excuse: even instant oats, which cook in thirty seconds in microwave, are better than that.
Fastest hot cereal are farina (coarse wheat flour) and varieties of oats. Quick rolled oats, oat mill, and oat bran cook fast, but cut oats take longer. Oat bran is loaded with protein and makes very smooth, comforting porridge. You can make farina or oat bran hot cereal as thin as you wish. Some small children prefer liquid, runny cereal. Note that cow's milk and wheat are not generally recommended for babies. I gave my children oat bran hot cereal made with water until they were past their first birthday. To cook hot farina or oat bran for three people: in a small saucepan, heat one and a half cup of milk (watch for burning on the bottom). Optionally, add sugar to taste, usually a tablespoon. Add eight to twelve tablespoons of cereal gradually, stirring as you add. I add cereal to milk by fistful, it takes three. It is easy to pour cereal gradually this way. Keep stirring until hot cereal boils and a couple of minutes after that. Turn off the heat. Hot cereal will thicken as it cools. Add cold milk to bring hot cereal to comfortable temperature and to achieve the desired thickness. Add raisins, fresh or frozen berries, fruit preserves, or grated cheese, if you like. The description may look long, but my five-year-old son makes perfect farina and oat bran hot cereal. And then he eats it, and his sister and brother, too.
Rice and buckwheat take little longer to cook. I usually reheat leftover rice and add milk and raisins when my kids want rice hot cereal for breakfast. To cook buckwheat hot cereal: use 1/2 cup of toasted buckwheat per serving. Put toasted buckwheat in a saucepan. Add three parts of water to two parts of buckwheat and some salt. Cover the pot, bring it to boil, reduce the heat and cook another five to ten minutes. Serve with milk, yogurt, sour cream or grated cheese. Buckwheat is better savory than sweet. Note that buckwheat does not contain gluten. Coarse or fine crushed buckwheat (buckwheat farina, cream of buckwheat) cooks faster than whole groat and can be cooked for hot cereal with milk.
See also: kitchen, cooking rice, buckwheat.