A universal Asian dish that is comforting for so many, rice porridge.
There are so many different recipes and methods for making rice porridge; passed down from your grandmother to your mother and to you.
I love rice porridge with minced pork and century egg...plain with pork floss...when my mum makes it, the list can go on. When I make it, this is my go to recipe :)
Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked white rice (you can also use brown rice)
3 cups of water to start (you will need to keep adding water as you go to get the right consistency)
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1 cup sweet potato, chopped to cube size
1 cup pumpkin, chopped to cube size
1 cup carrot, chopped to cube size
2 handfuls spinach
1 pack enoki mushroom
Japanese rice seasoning
Instructions
Rinse rice under cold water in a bowl and drain. Repeat the process 2-3 times.
Bring water to boil in a pot.
Add the rice, pearl barley, sweet potato, pumpkin and carrot into the pot and stir occasionally.
After a period of time, the ingredients in the pot will absorb all the water. Gradually add 1 cup of water at a time into the pot and keep cooking on a simmer.
When the rice starts to cook, it will become more sticky and it's important to continue stirring to avoid burning it.
It may take up to 30-45 mins for the rice to be cooked. Add more water if you don't like your rice porridge to be too thick.
When the rice porridge is ready, turn off the heat. Add the spinach and enoki mushroom into the pot, stir through and let the heat of the rice porridge itself cook it.
Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with Japanese rice seasoning.
Notes
I do not add any salt or soya sauce to this dish. If you think it's a bit too "healthy", you can add 2-3 tsp of chicken powder to it or cook it in chicken stock.
On a completely different note, I find saying rice porridge a mouthful. Growing up in KL, we have always called it porridge or "juk". In Australia, porridge is oats which to me still makes no sense because I still call it oats.