Working Mother's Cantonese Minced Pork Chook/Choke (Congee)

I remember, as a toddler, our very young helper (babysitter) who hailed from Malaysia, feeding me scoops of porridge. Hidden in the bowl of porridge, would be bits and pieces of minced meat. A few drops of soya sauce was all that was needed to make it really tasty. Even then, I recall her having to keep calling my name with a coaxing, 'Aaaaaahhhhmmmmm', trying tiredly to get my attention away from Atom Ant playing on the black and white TV (yes, I'm that ancient).
In the following years, the only other time I ate porridge was when I was sick. Yep. Sick food. Together with Fish Ball Mee Tai Mak. Why? Probably easier on one's tummy when one is down and out.

Anyhow, I've always loved Choke or what others refer to as 'Chook'. Porridge, Congee, Choke, Chook. Whatever. I prefer to call it 'Choke'. It's just rice grains boiled down to a smooth mash. I've never been able to get the consistency right UNTIL I decided to stop second guessing how to do it and just ask the Choke man at the market what type of rice he used. He told me in mandarain, 'ZHEN ZHU MI'. He could not tell me what that meant in English but I understood it to literally mean, Pearl Rice. He also said the secret was in the broth. It wasn't plain water he was boiling the rice grains in.

Not being very efficient in the Chinese language, I went to a Chinese speaking provision store and asked for just that, 'Zhen Zhu Mi' and he asked me if I wanted it BIG or SMALL. I was like, 'Er....hah? Got two sizes? I'm er...cooking porridge' (I thought he meant large or small grain - what an idiot I am sometimes!). He calmly repeated his question. Sheepishly realised he was just asking if I wanted a big pack or small pack. Being the 'kiasu' Singaporean that I am, I did a quick mental calculation and decided to get the big pack as it was more worthwhile (and now, I'm like stuck with a huge pack of short grain rice that doesn't taste very nice when cooked as our usual rice - too mushy for my taste)

Anyway, I soaked the grains overnight in water, then cooked with plenty of pork stock. It was like 3 cups of rice and 10 cups of liquid (or more). It took nearly an hour to boil it down to a smooth consistency over the stove so I wouldn't actually recommend cooking this Choke on a working week night. Too much time slaving over the stove. But the results were worth it. (Tip: Don't keep stirring the porridge whilst cooking, it will burn)

Minced Pork Chook/Choke (Congee) with liver and egg

Trying to be like a professional choke seller, I reboiled individual portions and stirred in an egg with the portion. That way, only when each family member was ready to eat, would the egg be added to that portion. Slightly more work and washing but well worth it. Added some soya sauce, pepper and a small dash of sesame oil (which I LOVE)!

And though it wasn't necessary, I also whipped up fried egg with chinchalok (small dried prawns) and tarng chai (a small pickled veg):

Eggs fried with chinchalok and tarng chai

(Excuse my 'chow tar' / burnt eggs - I can't for the life of me, fry decent eggs)

Also opened a small can of Chilli Pork Cubes (above) and a can of pickled veg (below).

Didn't take pics but I also cut open some Century Eggs. All went well. Even my husband, who doesn't fancy porridge much, said it was delicious. Must have done something right! Ha!





Working Mother's Fried Bee Hoon

I can't remember if I've blogged about this dish before. Didn't do much cooking the past few weeks because I've returned home so tired from work. Not that work was sooooo exhausting. I don't know why, I've just been feeling more tired than usual.

As we attended our church's 9 day Novena, I didn't cook much. Hubs took over by dishing out simple meals (mixed with dishes bought from the nearby food court's 'chai perng' stalls). Anyway, I realised I had some more food pics not yet loaded (or have I? I can't recall. I feel like have brain-fog or something).

I don't know how to cook small portions. Perhaps the smallest portion of anything I've cooked is plain Maggi Mee. Here's some bee hoon (Fried Vermicelli) I tried frying (to feed an army).

May not look like much, but this blue 'China' plate is huge! I took the pics with the glasses and small bowls around the plate so you could see that it was big. We usually only take it out during parties and though we didn't throw a party on that work week night, I still needed to take it out from hibernation to contain the mountain of bee hoon I had fried. Actually, I find cooking a one-dish meal on a work week night to be more troublesome than cooking several simple Chinese dishes. Can whip up several simple meals faster than it took to prepare the ingredients for this Fried Bee Hoon.

For this bee hoon dish, I prepared and fried all the ingredients separately before throwing them in with the bee hoon. Realised it wasn't easy frying eggs thinly. Takes some practice! My kids complained about the sliced chilli on the bee hoon (and of course the fried shallots too). Sigh. Can't dress up my dishes. The family prefers them plain.

Fried Bee Hoon

Self-rating: Probably 5/10. Family said it tasted nice but I think I've a long way more to go.

Mmmmm.....I love fried bee hoon with red cut chillies and soya sauce. Simple yet divine! Comfort food!