Lucas' favourite porridge
2018 Oct
Over the last few weeks the boys have been coughing. So one of the weekends I decided to make porridge for them. No meat, no seasoning. Surprisingly Lucas really liked the porridge. Since then he has had it around 5 times.
As usual I put in whatever I have in my kitchen. On one of the occasions I decided to document the recipe because the ingredients are so random and I might not be able to reproduce it in future. It's a really huge thing when your son says he likes the food you cook! And on this day Lucas said this is his favourite porridge. What luck!
Usually around here I tend to put a photo of the final product. But my pea brain must have not been working that day. One day when I make it again and my pea brain is functioning I will put the photo in!
Serves 4 bowls - think 1.5x Chinese rice bowl size.
INGREDIENTS:
- Brown rice - Approx 3/4 cup.
A trick is to think how much each person will eat. E.g. if the person will eat a bowl of porridge, half of it will be the ingredients, half of it will be the cooked rice. Now when cooking porridge, the rice grains will more than double in size, so take away two thirds of it. So in the end you only require less than 1/4 bowl of grains per pax. Multiply the number of pax and you have the total rice amount.
- Ikan bilis - Approx 1/2 cup
- Dried shrimps - Approx 1/2 cup
- Sweet potato - 1
- Carrot - 1
- Celery - 1 stick
- Broccoli - a handful
Note: Just go with your feel on what and how much of each ingredient you want to put. I sometimes add 1 potato too but I ran out of potato that day. I think I also added tomato before...Let your creative juices flow!
METHOD:
1) Chop up all the ingredients.
2)Wash rice two times. Yell for the children to come and take the rice water to the plants.
3) Put rice in a pot and fill it with 4 times the amount of water. Remember you need to allow for evaporation. Put on high heat.
4) Wash the ikan bilis and then you see, I have this neat little teabag meant for tea but I use it for putting the ikan bilis. The ikan bilis is not tasty nor easy to chew after being boiled for long and I feel they make the broth bitter if I leave them in for too long. So this little bag allows me to remove them from the pot easily after a while.
5) Wash and add the dried shrimps.
6) Wait 5 minutes. I don't know if it works but I am allowing the ikan bilis and dried shrimps flavour to be released into the pot before I add the other ingredients.
*At any one time when the pot starts to boil, turn it to low heat.
7) Add the sweet potato and carrots.
8) Wait 5 minutes. I am allowing the sweet potato and carrots to soften and the rice grains to expand beyond normal rice size.
** When the ikan bilis look like they have expanded and completely been soaked, remove them.
9) Add celery and broccoli. These are last because they are the softest and cook fast. Plus I do not want to cook too long until the brocolli becomes yellowish.
10) Boil for another 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
Lastly I just want to rave about this pot that I bought from the petrol station many years ago. It's light and thin so it heats the contents fast. It also has a lid that I can invert, allowing me to put the spoon on top after each stirring. In this position it doesn't close completely so the contents doesn't boil over too.
Enjoy while hot or warm. My mother always says not to eat cold porridge else you will have wind in your stomach.
2018 Oct
Over the last few weeks the boys have been coughing. So one of the weekends I decided to make porridge for them. No meat, no seasoning. Surprisingly Lucas really liked the porridge. Since then he has had it around 5 times.
As usual I put in whatever I have in my kitchen. On one of the occasions I decided to document the recipe because the ingredients are so random and I might not be able to reproduce it in future. It's a really huge thing when your son says he likes the food you cook! And on this day Lucas said this is his favourite porridge. What luck!
Usually around here I tend to put a photo of the final product. But my pea brain must have not been working that day. One day when I make it again and my pea brain is functioning I will put the photo in!
Serves 4 bowls - think 1.5x Chinese rice bowl size.
INGREDIENTS:
- Brown rice - Approx 3/4 cup.
A trick is to think how much each person will eat. E.g. if the person will eat a bowl of porridge, half of it will be the ingredients, half of it will be the cooked rice. Now when cooking porridge, the rice grains will more than double in size, so take away two thirds of it. So in the end you only require less than 1/4 bowl of grains per pax. Multiply the number of pax and you have the total rice amount.
- Ikan bilis - Approx 1/2 cup
- Dried shrimps - Approx 1/2 cup
- Sweet potato - 1
- Carrot - 1
- Celery - 1 stick
- Broccoli - a handful
Note: Just go with your feel on what and how much of each ingredient you want to put. I sometimes add 1 potato too but I ran out of potato that day. I think I also added tomato before...Let your creative juices flow!
METHOD:
1) Chop up all the ingredients.
2)Wash rice two times. Yell for the children to come and take the rice water to the plants.
3) Put rice in a pot and fill it with 4 times the amount of water. Remember you need to allow for evaporation. Put on high heat.
4) Wash the ikan bilis and then you see, I have this neat little teabag meant for tea but I use it for putting the ikan bilis. The ikan bilis is not tasty nor easy to chew after being boiled for long and I feel they make the broth bitter if I leave them in for too long. So this little bag allows me to remove them from the pot easily after a while.
5) Wash and add the dried shrimps.
6) Wait 5 minutes. I don't know if it works but I am allowing the ikan bilis and dried shrimps flavour to be released into the pot before I add the other ingredients.
*At any one time when the pot starts to boil, turn it to low heat.
7) Add the sweet potato and carrots.
8) Wait 5 minutes. I am allowing the sweet potato and carrots to soften and the rice grains to expand beyond normal rice size.
** When the ikan bilis look like they have expanded and completely been soaked, remove them.
9) Add celery and broccoli. These are last because they are the softest and cook fast. Plus I do not want to cook too long until the brocolli becomes yellowish.
10) Boil for another 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
Lastly I just want to rave about this pot that I bought from the petrol station many years ago. It's light and thin so it heats the contents fast. It also has a lid that I can invert, allowing me to put the spoon on top after each stirring. In this position it doesn't close completely so the contents doesn't boil over too.
Enjoy while hot or warm. My mother always says not to eat cold porridge else you will have wind in your stomach.
