Taro Porridge 芋头粥

I truly regretted not cooking more of this. It’s the absolute must try for taro cake lovers, or what you may call as yam cake lovers.

Peng is such a genius to think of transforming the taro cake into porridge form. Seriously! I love going to her blog to get inspirations for everyday dishes. She’s got lots of good recipes, with some combinations that I have never ever seen before and all her recipes that I've tried all taste good to me.
Well, I know that cooking is unlike baking, where one can just throw in whatever you like. But, it has to mingle well. Cooking is like wearing clothes, you need the right combination and pairing. Not all flavours work well together. Although edible, but it may not necessarily taste nice. But Peng’s ingenious pairing and combinations always brings the “ooo” and “ahh” out of me.

I may have changed the recipe, but all credits to her for the idea.

Sekinchan Shark Porridge

Sekinchan is a small town on the northern coastal area in Selangor. It's major industry is fishing and rice planting.

This small town has a lot of seafood restaurants (compared to its size and population) and one of the popular treats in this town is shark porridge. Found cooked in two ways:- original and spicy. I chose to replicate the original version as I have kids at home.

Bubur Lambuk Agong Kampung Baru - KL Selangor MFF #5

First of all, a blessed Ramadhan to all my Muslim friends and readers.

Each year during Ramadhan, Masjid Jamek in Kampung Baru will distribute a much loved porridge called Bubur Lambuk Agong to people in need of food to break fast with. So much so, that they cook around 100 pots each day for distribution. Each pot can provide 400 packs, so altogether 40000 packs each day! Volunteers come to help and donors chip in to make this tradition an annual event. It's a huge thing! They are not just known within Kampung Baru, or KL city, or Klang Valley, but so much so until people from Brunei will ask their friends and relatives to post the porridge over. Nowadays, the porridge is not only collected by people in need, but just anyone, anyone who queues up since 2pm can have some too. Read here to have a better understanding about Bubur Lambuk Kampung Baru

Fried Porridge 炒粥 - MFF Kedah Perlis #2

This is a specialty found in Serdang, Kedah. The most popular shop that serves this is Sin Aik Kee.
Sounds weird? Not really.

I first got to know about this from a TV show, Taste with Jason (Axian) and I happened to see the last bit of the show... couldn't get much from it, but I knew this dish was really popular there. Then I found Axian's blog, but it no longer exists now. Before the blog was closed, I happened to see the picture of the raw ingredients used.

Lambuk Porridge ~ Bubur Lambuk Terengganu - MFF Terengganu #4

Terenganu style rice porridge :)

I'm sure most Malaysian may have heard of this, especially during Ramadan fasting month, some mosques will be giving out free Bubur Lambuk. Unlike the west coast version, the ingredients used in Terengganu is very different. It uses fish, sweet potato and lots of local wild vegetables. I was curious about the taste, so I decided to try it out.

One is free to use any type of vegetables but some do insist on the use of wild pepper, lemon basil (kemangi) and red fern (pucuk midin/paku merah). I have trouble searching for the red fern and I was told it wasn't found in Perak. Then lemon basil was no where to be sold except at the garden center where I have to buy the whole big pot! I just went ahead with whatever I could buy at the market or source from my hubby's employee.

Azuki and Black Glutinous Rice Porridge - BGR Week # 2 and new winners for Giveaway

Recipe prepared in Dec 2010

During my 2nd trimester pregnant with Reuben, I wanted to drink sweet soups quite often. One early evening, I just wanted to have some, and I wanted black glutinous rice porridge. My hubby drove me to get some pandan leaf from an aunt's house and we went to buy the ingredients. I got home and prepared everything and by supper, it was ready.

I loved it soooooooooo much. Foetus Reuben must have been jumping for joy in my tummy to get what he wanted. Well, I can't feel him yet that time, he was only 4 months big.

Lean Pork, Oyster and Peanut Porridge - Rice Week # 1

I came across this porridge at Cheah’s blog. Before I saw her post on this, I’ve already planned to cook mussel, lean pork and peanut porridge for Sunday breakfast. But then, as I saw hers, I can’t help but go and buy myself some dried oysters instead of using mussels. And I was totally intrigued by the fact she added in oatmeal to her porridge. Is that her method to balance up the amount of cholesterol from the oysters? Hahaha, I don’t know, but that really got me interested.

Salmon Congee 三文鱼粥

A recreation of what I’ve tasted at Ryu Men Tei, Subang Jaya.

We always frequent this place when Mike and I still lived in USJ. I think I’ve almost eaten everything on their menu, except for their lobsters and live catches in aquariums. As we only go there for regular dinners, lobsters and those geoducks are a luxury that we never indulged in. Ha, but a good dinner only needs good food, there’s no necessity for luxury stuff. I love everything there.. except for their sushi, which is find to be a bit bland for my taste. Other stuff are pretty nicely seasoned.

Lydia and Lyanne was sick during this weekend (as of this dish, weeks and weeks ago), so, we didn’t go out. What I had in my fridge were salmon, spring onions, filament crab sticks and not much of other stuff. Well, congee was the easiest stuff for Sunday lunch, as I will always cook the rice the night before I sleep and bring it back to a boil in the morning for a smooth smooth congee.

The night before, I boil 5 cups or more water. Wash 1 cup rice and put it in. Bring to a rolling boil and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes, with lid on. Take a look at the rice, it should look flowered (split). Return the lid and turn off the heat and let it sit overnight. It should look like puffed rice grains the next day. Only use high starch rice to make congee, so that you’ll have nice and smooth results. AAA grade Thai Fragrant rice (jasmine), Japanese short grain rice, or Bario rice will be a good choice.

The next morning,(or you can also do this the night before, just mix both broth and rice together the next day) with another pot, I boil 5 cups or less water or stock or dashi. Put in chicken or whatever meat and let it cook. If it needs to be shredded take it out and let it cool. Then put the cooked rice back in, and bring it back to a boil on high heat for 10 minutes. There you have it, smooth express porridge in the morning. Well of course, you can always use the slow cooker and let it cook overnight the whole thing if you want, but I don’t.

For this time, I used
1 cup Thai fragrant rice (jasmine rice) (Makes about 2.5L porridge)
5 cups or more water
Cook this the night before just before you go to sleep until the rice splits.

5 cups or less water
2 Tbsp mini dried scallops
200gm salmon flesh, or just use one piece of 1 inch thick salmon steak (mine was ¾ of a steak, partially used for Lyanne’s porridge weeks ago)
1 medium carrot
6 pcs filament crab stick
2 sprigs of green onion
Salt to taste (about 1.5 to 2 tsp)

1. Bring water and scallops to a boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Either cook the salmon in the microwave, or poach it in another saucepan of water(if you’re scared that it’ll taste fishy) or you can throw it into the pot (that is making scallops broth). Take out the salmon and let it cool down. The fish is cooked when it can be easily flaked.
3. Next, peel and finely dice the carrot, slice the green onions, slice the filament crab sticks finely.
4. By the time you’re done with the cutting and slicing, put the rice back into the scallop broth and bring to a boil on high heat (lid off), don’t’ leave the pot unattended. Stir the rice so that it’ll disintergrate into the broth. Season with salt.
5. Flake the salmon and return it to the pot. Put in finely diced carrots too.
6. When the rice has come to a boil, let it simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes, lid off.
7. Put in the sliced crab sticks, lightly stir and turn off the heat.
8. Put in green onions now or use it as a garnish later.

*The reason why I do this in 2 pots is because reboiling rice can sometimes be a daunting task. It can easily burn or if you stir it while bringing it back to boil, you may scald your wrist or palm because porridge is very very hot, worse than getting scalded by hot water. So bringing the broth to boil, then only you add the rice, reduces the cooking time and less chance of getting scalded.

Mike rarely goes back for seconds when it comes to porridge. He ate 2 big bowls of this. Very very sweet porridge.
He asked me, if this porridge is sold for RM5/bowl, will I make money. I told him Ryu Men Tei sold this for almost RM10  :-)

And I did this again the following week.... this pic below is from the 2nd week , I left some salmon to sprinkle on top for garnish, rather than mixing them all in.

Fresh Mango Oatmeal

Never thought that I'd eat such healthy stuff right???

Actually I pretty much like oatmeal...... cooked my way.
When I was pretty much younger, in my early teens, I tried cooking according to the instructions on the packet, and I pretty much hated it. It was too too milky, so thick and yucky. The oatmeal was cloying and overloading for me.

But when I grew up later in my teens, my brother taught me to cook it in a much diluted method, then sweetened with condensed milk. Wow.. that was an eye opener. Truly different. It tasted much like wheat porridge, what we call in Cantonese as Mak Chuk, or in Malay Bubur Gandum/Terigu.

Then when I went into Teacher's Training in JB, I ate breakfast daily because break time was much later and I'll be so so hungry by then, so I made breakfast. It's almost oatmeal daily. Oh if you want to know whether I lose weight by eating oatmeal daily.. hahaha, no I didn't. And I will always try to put in fresh fruits to make it even nicer, strawberries, and bananas usually, because I could buy more and store. But I didn't use condensed milk anymore simply because condensed milk ain't the same stuff that it was when I was a kid, it became condensed filled milk or creamers and they tasted inferior. So I used fresh milk with a bit of sugar.

After the training ended, I was posted to rural oil palm estate where the nearest town was 68km away with nothing insight except oil palms all the way. So, keeping oatmeal in the pantry was a must. And whenever I get back to the estate from KL, I always pass by a large fruit stall. My friends and I always make a point to stop and buy fruits. I think I ate the most fruits during these 2 years I was working there. Mangoes were always the choice fruit to buy when it was in season. Simply because it could keep without referigeration and I definately prefer this than apples or oranges. It was during this time that eating oatmeal with mangoes started. My housemate who doesn't eat oatmeal, was converted after I made this for her. She totally changed her perspective about oatmeal and said it was so good, just like eating sweet soups.

So, here, maybe you'd like to try my way to convert your man or your child into eating oatmeal.
My 2 kids finished these 2 bowls.

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

2 cups water

1/2 cup fresh milk (if you are making this for your kid, you can use your child's milk formula, dissolved with some water)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup diced mangoes or more

Put water and oats into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low, lid off and simmer for 5 minutes. Put in milk and sugar. Turn off heat and put into serving bowls. Top with diced mangoes.
Simply divine.

I used much lesser milk than traditional oatmeals and I find this just nice. Enough to make it creamy but not too much to make it cloying.

*Please note that the simmering time will affect the texture of the oatmeal. The longer you simmer it, the smoother it becomes and thicker it will be. And it thickens further when it cools down. So better gauge your consistency preference. The amount of liquids I use here is just right for me.

You may use strawberries, but it may be tart, so feel free to add in more sugar. Bananas are nice to go with this, and it is sweet and fragrant. Blueberries will be nice and slightly cooking it will bring out a nice colour from the skin.

To non oatmeal eaters, I dare you to try this.

Baby's Fish Porridge

Ha, I’m so far behind my posting…. Lyanne’s almost 17 months now. Althought she still eats porridge now, but it's no longer a daily affair because she's got her molars now and eating a lot of other stuff.

This is how I do my baby’s fish porridge. And to take away the fishiness, I use spring onions. It adds a lovely touch of sweetness and specks of green in the porridge. I want my children to eat spring onions. I’ve seen so many kids picking that out when they eat out. I don’t want my kids to be like that. You can add carrots of course, but I don’t feed carrots daily to my kids. And I always add sesame oil in fish porridge, masks any fishy smell. *Kitchen Tip*

Kitchen Tip: Use a timer to boil porridge with a slow cooker. This way, there’s no worry of forgetting to switch off that switch when you might be busy with baby. She might be crying or waiting for you to hug her.. and there are times when we really cannot get away for even a while. A kitchen timer really comes in handy.

I do measure my rice with a measurement spoon and use a measuring cup with my water, so that I get precise results each time.
This recipe yields 1 rice bowl of porridge, suitable for 1 feeding of a 9 month old child, Well, this is how much my kids eat at 9 months.

2Tbsp rice
350ml water
30gm fish flesh, preferably, garoupa, threadfin or Spanish mackerel. Please don’t use dory.
1 sprig green onion, separated into white and green parts, finely sliced
¼ tsp sesame oil, good source Omega 6 and masks the fishy smell too.
¼ tsp salt, optional, but I do put a bit. If you like to use ikan bilis in your baby food, they contain salt too.

If you want to increase the rice
3 tbsp, 500ml water, 2 hours
4 Tbsp rice, 600ml water, 2 hours
6 tbsp rice, 750ml water, 2 hours 15 minutes

1. Turn on slow cooker on high. Wash the rice and put in slow cooker. Add in white parts of spring onion too.

2. Boil water and fish. Pour into slow cooker. Put salt if using.

3. Put timer on for 1 hour 45 minutes.

4. When porridge is almost done, put in green parts of spring onion and take out the fish and leave to cool.

5. *Kitchen tip*
Flake fish with fingers, yes, fingers, not a fork. So that you can feel whether there are bones in the fish. You won’t want to choke your child. Feel the fish flakes thoroughly before adding back into porridge.

6. Leave porridge to cool down slightly to warm before feeding your child.

*The fish looks greyish because it's just out from the freezer, it's frost.

Variations that I find to be super yummy, even for an adult 
Chicken and Apple
Cabbage and Pork Loin/chicken
Carrots, Tomato, Onion and chicken/pork loin
Pumpkin and Chicken
Amaranth and fish
Tofu, chicken and wolfberries
Spinach, tofu and fish

I’m not the kind of person that will throw in anything to make porridge. If I feel it’s yucky and won’t eat it, I won’t feed it to my child. And some say, I’m raising picky eaters that only know how to eat good food cos they have me as their mother 

Haha, I won’t know that until much later.

Fish Porridge 鱼片粥

Some call this congee, some call this porridge. Well, we call this porridge.

Other types of fish may be used as well, just that frozen dory is really convenient to use anytime.

Fish Porridge Recipe

Ingredients:

¾ cup Thai fragrant rice
1.5L Water

250gm dory fillet (about a cup, sliced thinly)

2 Tbsp ginger, julienned
2 Tbsp green onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sesame oil

A)
1 Tbsp egg white
½ tsp salt
Dash of pepper
½ tsp sesame oil

Method:
1. Bring water to a boil, wash rice and simmer for 1 hour.
2. Marinate fish with (A)
3. When porridge is simmered to desired texture, put in fish, piece by piece.
4. Add in salt.
5. Ladle porridge into 2 noodle size bowls. Top with 1 tsp sesame oil each, ginger and green onion.

***
Japanese short grain rice may also be used to achieve similar texture.

***
Egg white is added to strengthen fish’s flesh texture, and to give it a smooth feel.