Salted Pork and Century Egg Porridge

It requires a bit of skill when it comes to cooking porridge over the stove. Nowadays, I just throw everything into the non-stick rice cooker and let the porridge boil with the lid off. But back to the basics, here are some tips to cook porridge the old school way.





























Ingredients:
Lean pork or pork tendon (marinated with lots of salt overnight, or at least an hour)
Dried scallops and dried oyster (soak in water til soft)
Rice (after washing, soak in water with a teaspoon of sesame oil, overnight or for an hour)
Century egg

1) Boil some water in a large pot. When the water starts to boil, pour the rice with the water and sesame oil into the pot. Add in the scallops and dried oysters. Always keep the flame on high so the contents are constantly bubbling. This prevents the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Note: Add water when liquid starts to dry up. Using a large pot ensures that the porridge does not boil over.

2) When the porridge is almost done, take the salted piece of pork and wash it with running water. This is to remove the excess salt on the pork. Add the pork to the boiling porridge.

3) Keep cooking til the pork is tender. Once done, turn off the flame. Take the meat out and cut into small pieces. Cut the century egg into small pieces as well. Return the meat and century egg into the pot of porridge. Heat the porridge up again and it is ready to be served.

Porridge from a spoonful of rice

What do you do when you have this much rice leftover? Too little for a meal, yet too lazy too cook more fresh rice. One easy solution for lunch -- porridge.

Just add some water to the rice, depending on the consistency you prefer, and let it boil.




Add a few drops of sesame oil and some preserved vegetables, tung choy 冬菜 , for flavour. If you prefer the teochew porridge style, turn off the flame before the rice dissolves into a liquid texture. For a smooth porridge consistency, leave it on and boil til the liquid turns thick.





Pour into a bowl and serve with some stirfried vegetables or any other leftovers from dinner. Some luncheon meat or omelette would go well too.