Fish Porridge

It's been a cold rainy day... It's actually starting to feel cold in sunny Singapore. A bowl of fish porridge is just perfect for such a night and after we had too much guilty food :P

A bowl of hot fish porridge garnished with spring onions. 

I guess adding some deep fried shallots won't do much harm, right?

Chang Cheng porridge（长城粥) @ Chinatown

After watching "2012" at GV Marina Square last Saturday, Jerome drove to Chinatown just so we could have Chang Cheng Porridge at 4pm :) It's a very popular stall located at the intersection at Keong Saik Road & New Bridge Road. We ordered a bowl of porridge each & a claypot of frogs' legs. Hmm... Does frog legs sound digusting to some people? Just like I find it impossible to imagine eating fried scorpions & starfish when I was at Wang Fu Jing in Bei Jing.

I also know that porridge doesn't appeal to all. But in this part of the world, we grow up from these. One of the first food that a baby will learn to eat is the porridge.

From what I know, there are a few types of popular porridge here. The Cantonese style of porridge which is like the one below, where the porridge is cooked till it's very soft & turned into a 'puree'. The ingredients & seasonings are cooked together with the porridge & you can enjoy the bowl of porridge on its own.

Century Egg Porridge

Claypot of Frog Legs

The other type of porridge is the Teochew porridge where the porridge is basically just rice cooked with more water. Sometimes, sweet potatoes are also added. A few savory dishes are usually served with the white porridge. Common dishes include salted egg, preserved beancurd, egg with preserved radish, steamed egg, canned food, etc. As a child growing up in a Teochew family, lunch was always a porridge meal. And whenever we are sick and do not have much of an appetite, the humble porridge is also served. I remembered that at a certain point, I was actually getting sick of porridge :P Imagine, everyday...

I find it amazing that a hotel was actually packed with people enjoying a porridge buffet. A few years back, Jerome & I even tried a porridge steamboat at Katong. This porridge steamboat concept was introduced from Malaysia where this seems to be very popular. Instead of soup in your steamboat, you cook your food in the porridge. We tried it once & that was it. I am definitely not paying $20+/pax for porridge! The last time we looked, the restuarant was no longer there.

Actually Jerome & I have a porridge meal for dinner at least once every week, usually on Mondays. It kinds of make us feel better after over-eating on Sunday nights when we have dinner at my mum's place :P Jerome's not a fussy eater & offered me an amazingly easy solution, "Whenever you don't know what to cook, just cook porridge & serve preserved beancurd. I'll be happy." That's great, but I won't be happy just having the preserved beancurd... Guess I'm the fussy eater here...

Stir Fry Minced Meat with Potatoes

A savoury dish, good with porridge.

Ingredients

200g minced meat (marinade with some soya sauce, sesame oil & pepper)

1 potato, peeled & cut into slices

1 medium-size onion, cut into rings

200ml water

1tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soya sauce

Method:

1) Heat up 1 tbps oil in wok. Saute onions till fragrant.

2) Add water. Add potatoes. Cover & simmer for 10mins.

3) Add minced meat & mix well.

4) Add seasoning of oystersauce & dark soya sauce.

5) Dish up & serve.