I know that in the US, "porridge" is often made of oatmeal... but here in
Singapore, very few people eat REAL oatmeal porridge (I do! 8-))... and
oats are often eaten from those 3-in-1 satchets (instant oats-creamer-sugar
all pre mixed in 1 easy to carry around satchet), that only need hot water
and a mug... "Porridge" to us is "choke" (Cantonese) or rice congee...
there're so many variations to eating rice porridge that I thought I should
introduce the "concept" to those who aren't familiar with it...8-)
There're 2 types of rice porridge (congee)... one kind is rice cooked in 3
or 4 times more water than you would normally use to make fluffy rice and
boil for hours! till mushy (the mushier and smoother, the better)...
another is to cook rice as usual, and add stock to the rice to create a
"soup with rice in it" kinda thing (a good way to use leftovers)....
I like the first type... my mom uses a rice cooker that makes porridge and
keeps food warm as well... and during nights when I would study through the
night and need food at 3am in the morning, my mom would prepare porridge
(just rice and water) and leave it to cook in the cooker... when I got
hungry, I would dump in 1 or 2 of veg/vegn chicken stock cubes (depending
on amount of porridge cooked)... dump in some pieces of tofu... and loads
of frozen vegies (corn, peas, long beans, carrots combo) and sometimes
fresh cauliflower or broccoli or egg beaters (stir carefully into rice
mixture)... and (used to) add some shrimps too (vegn dun do this of
coz!)... then cover and let cook till vegies are cooked, stir, taste, add
soya sauce, ground black pepper, choice of herbs, salt... taste..yummmm....
and a whole pot of delicious porridge to last me through the night and even
for breakfast!! You can also use a crockpot for this! My grandma likes to
use unpolished rice for better nutrition....
Make the plain porridge in your crockpot at slow the night before, wake up,
throw in other ingredients, put to HIGH or in a saucepan over stove in a
small fire...go get dressed, brush teeth etc... come back to kitchen, sit
down to a warm and yummy breakfast...
Another way to eat porridge is to serve it plain (either the first or
second type mentioned in the 2nd paragraph) with Chinese stir-fries. Yummy
too...
Karen
*********************************************************
Karen Lim
bem40147@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**********************************************************
------------------------------