Pork Porridge
June 2, 2008 – 9:50 pm by wiffyI tried almost everything - to make my pork porridge sweet, that is. Desperate situations often give birth to desperate measures, like experimenting with un-typical porridge ingredients such as soya beans. But after a few “experiments”, my pork porridge still taste rather bland & boring.
So just as I was about to give up, my mum came to the rescue! She told me that the “secret” is adding anchovies (aka Ikan Bilis) to make the porridge really sweet and flavourful. Ah…. anchovies, the secret ingredient … why haven’t I thought of it? And true enough, after another round of experimenting, the pork porridge finally tastes nice and flavourful - the way I want it to be 
Pork Porridge (猪肉粥)
(garnished with anchovies, fried shallots and spring onions
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Ingredients
(Serves 4)
250g minced pork
1 1/4 cup rice
12 cups water
2 tbsp dried shrimps
10 red dates
10 dried scallops
2 tbsp (deep fried or plain) anchovies (aka ikan bilis)
1 to 2 tsp light soy sauce (adjust to your preference)
century egg, cup to small pieces (optional)
chopped spring onions and fried shallots for garnishing (optional)
marinade
1 1/4 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp sesame oil
Ground white pepper
Directions
(Recipe slightly adapted from simcooks)
1. Add washed rice, dried shrimps, anchovies, red dates, dried scallops and water to pot, bring to a boil.
2. Leave the lid partially open and reduce heat to medium. Stir the bottom of the pot every now and then to prevent the rice from sticking to the base.
3. Boil for about 30 minutes to get congee (very fine consistency). Add more hot water if needed.
4. In the meantime, mix the pork with the marinade and leave for about 10 minutes. After which, scoop about 1/2 tbsp of the marinated mince meat and mould into a ball (see photo above).
5. When the porridge has cooked to the consistency you liked, place the meatballs into the porridge, increase heat and allow meatballs to cook for about 3 minutes. It is better to cook the meatballs only when you are ready to serve as overcooked meatballs are tough. Season with light soy sauce.
6. Serve & garnish with century egg, ikan bilis, spring onions and fried shallots.
Pork Porridge (or rather congee),
served with pork balls, century egg, and garnished with spring onions & fried shallots
Similar Recipes:
- Pumpkin Porridge
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Tags: anchovies, century egg, congee, pork porridge
Posted in Chinese, One-Dish Meals, Porridge, Recipes
8 Responses to “Pork Porridge”
DROOL! I love pork porridge and to tantalise me at this time of the nite is just wrong!! U better be up in your PJ’s cos I’m coming over!!
By Joyce on Jun 2, 2008
So many good stuffs in your porridge! At this hour, I too am craving for some hot porridge for supper.
By didally on Jun 3, 2008
That looks really soothing and comforting. I love all the garnishes!
By Skrockodile (Sabra) on Jun 3, 2008
鲜味十足, for sure. All the unami stuff- dried shrimps, dried scallops, ikan billis. How not to be sweet and delicious…
By tigerfish on Jun 3, 2008
Wow that looks so good. I so want to try it! So different from what porridge is here!
By JennDZ_The LeftoverQueen on Jun 4, 2008
That porridge looks good. I bet the anchovies added a lot of flavour. The red dates sound interesting.
By Kevin on Jun 4, 2008
Ikan bilis does add a lot of flavour and sweetness. Another ingredient to try is dried scallops. Soak them in water to soften (like dried shitake) and them add them to the congee pot). They will disintegrate into little pieces and flakes. If you look carefully at the congee sold by Crystal Jade, you can see little flakes of dried scallops which give their congee so much sweetness.
By Nilmandra on Jun 4, 2008
Thanks for all the nice comments
Nilmandra:: Hee, I added 10 dried scallops to my pork porridge! But I think mine didn’t disintegrate to little flakes after cooking. Perhaps I should soak longer next time before I make the congee
By wiffy on Jun 6, 2008