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Pumpkin Porridge

When I tried to make Pumpkin Rice again a while ago, something disastrous happen - I added too much water! And it was worsened by the fact that I did not wait for the stir-fried rice to cool b4 placing it in the rice cooker. Due to the fact that my rice cooker operates by sensing temperature, the cooking time was very much reduced, and the result was uncooked, wet and sticky rice. Yucks.

So I thought why not convert the yucky rice to porridge, since porridge is supposed to be wet! I just dump the half-cooked rice into a thermal cooker, add about 1-2 litres of water, and bravo, we had yummy pumpkin congee that day!

One Dish, Two Ways - Pumpkin Rice & Pumpkin Porridge

A Spoonful of Pumpkin Congee

When I made the porridge a second round, I increased the quantity of salted fish, lean meat, butter, and also added red dates & dried scallops to enhance the taste. With so much water, I wanted the congee to still taste as rich as the Pumpkin Rice.

This is my first entry into Project Foodie’s Leftover Tuesdays, a challenge to transform leftovers (in this case, my culinary disaster) into tasty temptations.

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I’m basically repeating almost the same ingredients & instructions for Pumpkin Rice, with slight variations highlighted in orange.

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

- A small piece of pumpkin, skin removed & cut to small cubes (about 150g without skin)
- 200g pork belly (aka sam cham bak, 3-layered pork, 3层肉), cut to thin stripes (can substitute with bacon)
- 2 portebello mushrooms (or a few shitake mushrooms) - cut to cubes (but not too thin)
- 1 tbsp chopped garlic
- Half large onion, chopped
- 1 1/4 cup of rice, washed
- 5-10 dried scallops
- 10 red dates
- 2 litres of water
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp wolfberries
- 30g salted fish, cut to small bits

Directions

1. Fry pork slices in wok. When pork is entirely cooked on the surface, take out and set aside on a plate.
2. Heat butter in wok. Saute garlic, onions and salted fish till fragrant. Then add pumpkin, mushrooms and stir fry for a short while.
3. Add uncooked rice and fry till the onions are clear.
4. Add the stuff from the wok, wolfberries, red dates and the previously cooked pork, to a pot, add water, and bring to a boil. Stir the base of the pot frequently to prevent the rice from sticking to the base.
5. Simmer on a low heat for about 20-30 minutes (or longer if you want congee*), while leaving lid partially covered (if you cover fully, the water will spill over).
6. Garnish & serve.

* Using a thermal cooker will save you hours of gas consumption if you are making congee, soups & stews!

Pumpkin Porridge, or rather, pumpkin congee

Tags: congee, dried scallops, Mushrooms, porridge, portebello mushrooms, pumpkin, Rice, wolfberries

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