Thursday, March 8, 2012

Pork Bones Porridge (猪骨粥)

Whenever I'm feeling unwell, I will cook this.

Reason? It's Comforting, Simple and delicious. I wanna eat something light, something not complicated, something that makes me miss my nanny. Miss the taste of the porridge that she used to cook for me when I'm unwell during childhood time.

Another reason is that, Max don't really enjoy porridge. But i do. So, I cook when he's not around.

A very old friend of mine once told me. If we wanna cook good and shiny texture porridge at home, the trick is to use varieties of rice. Because different rice has it's unique texture. And here it is...

  • Glutinous Rice (糯米) = It gives the porridge the stickiness texture.
  • Jasmine Rice (香米)= The usual rice that Chinese family used have at home. This gives the porridge the "volume".
  • Japanese Rice (珍珠米) = People call it Pearl Rice, Sushi Rice or Japanese Rice. Actually, they are different. But people tends to mix it up. But it doesn't matter. This gives the porridge the shiny and glossy texture.
A pot of basic porridge that serves 2 to 3 pax which I think I will stick to this forever :

  • 1 soup spoon of Glutinous Rice
  • 2 soup spoon of Jasmine Rice
  • 1 soup spoon of Japanese Rice

I always keep these 3 types of rice at home. But please.. don't bother to go and buy those rice if you don't have it at home. You could just use any of them. I always use whatever I have at home. I don't bother to go and get a pack of rice just because I need 1 soup spoon of them. I can live without it. In another word... I'm simply lazy. Ha!

Come back to the Pork Bones Porridge. And here's what you need ....



Ingredients

  • 4 soup spoons of rice - Glutinous/Japanese/Jasmine Rice. (Ref above for rice ratio)
  • 1 big piece of fresh pork bone. It won't cost you much. I get this pork bone at S$1.00. Get your butcher to cut it into half for you. Or else you will have hard time when you do it at home on your own. You have to trust me on this.
  • Roughly about 3 bowls of water (the bowl that you see on the picture)
  • 2 to 3 slices of ginger
  • 3 to 4 pieces of dried scallops
  • a stalk of spring onions
  • pepper, salt & sesame oil to taste

Method

  • Soak the rice with water for 1 hour if you have the time. If you don't, skip this. I don't bother if I don't have the time. I just cook it straightaway.
  • Clean the bones, scald it in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes, remove and rinse.
  • Wash the scallops, and soak it for about 10-15mins. Keep the water.
  • In a pot, add in rice, 3 bowls of water, ginger, dried scallops (and the water). Cook it under medium low heat. Do keep an eye on it. Stir it occasionally. Don't let it burnt.
  • When the porridge is done, salt, pepper & sesame oil to taste.
  • Sprinkle some spring onions & shredded ginger, and serve

Yep! I used Claypot instead the ordinary pot. My mom gave this Claypot to me, and I'm lovin' it. Porridge is ready :)



You could see how smooth the texture is.... It's soft, shiny and glossy.



And the pork bones. You don't really get to eat them. They are bones with very little (or i should use the word miserable) meat. But Pork Bones has it's unique sweet taste when you use it to cook Porridge or Soup.

So, would you like to have a bowl?

I hope you like it. Do give it a try :)

No comments:

Post a Comment