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!