Refreshing Rice Porridge/Congee with Sweet Pototoes

Usually when any member of my family is under the weather, rice porridge or congee is the best choice. Besides being refreshing, it's also excellent for those who have weak digestive tract from chronic or acute illness and also for healing nourishment.

Cooking rice porridge or congee is easy and simple. An amount of grains with 5 to 6 times more water is all that is needed for plain rice congee and  preferably, a pinch of sea salt is added. Plain rice congee can be of white or brown rice grains.  For added flavour or health benefits and healing purposes, a combination of grains, beans, vegetables, meat or medicinal herbs is commonly practiced by my family since our grandparents' era.  In fact most of my uncles and aunts as well as my parents are quite well equipped with Chinese medicinal herbs knowledge as both my grandparents were Chinese sinseh.  Too bad, my knowledge on this topic is quite limited and I regretted that I didn't really make it a point to learn it from them.  Fortunately, I am still able to cook simple yet nutritious and healthy meal for my own family, hehehe...  Not too bad, isn't it????  

Ingredients :

- 1 cup of rice grains - I used brown rice (thoroughly washed)

- 1 medium sized orange sweet potato (peeled and cut)

- 6 cups of water (adjust the water depending on individual's preferences)

Method :

1)  Put washed rice and water into a pot and bring to a boil.

2)  Lower the heat and simmer until the rice is semi-cooked.

3)  Add in sweet potatoes and continue to cook till porridge consistency and the potatoes are soft.

4)  If you need to add water, remember to add hot water.

5)  Serve hot for breakfast or lunch.

I prefer my porridge to be super silky smooth (you need to simmer it longer) but hubby likes his rice porridge just as the above picture and my girls like theirs to be very watery.  So, each time whenever I cook porridge, the consistency of the porridge also varies depending on the type of porridge and the 'demand', hehehe...

We usually eat this with some side dishes or condiments if we are having it for lunch.  As this was for breakfast, we had it with Homemade Salted Duck Egg <--- (click here for a step-by-step recipe).

Isn't this a very simple yet healthy breakfast for your beloved family?

In case you are interested, here's the  link to my previous porridge/congee recipes :-

Sweet Bitter Gourd Porridge

Malay style porridge : Bubur Lambuk/Spiced Porridge

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Braised Chicken with Bitter Gourd 苦瓜焖鸡 and Boon's Little Kitchen Cook Book

This is a very classic dish which most of us are very familiar with especially the Asian Chinese. Those children who do not favor bitter gourd will start to love this humble gourd once they are being introduced to this dish.  My children are no exceptional too.  When they were still at a tender age,  this is one of the many bitter gourd dishes which I introduced to them. Gradually, they had learned to like bitter gourd and in fact love this braised chicken with bitter gourd and fermented black beans.

I am glad to say that my preparation for this dish has improved since I came across this recipe from Boon's Little Kitchen, page 86. Boon's Little Kitchen is an ideal cookbook for those who are always scratching their head what to serve a "3 dishes 1 soup" meal for their beloved family. Well, with this cook book, you would not run out of ideas for simple yet wonderful and delicious home-cooked '3 dishes 1 soup" meal for your beloved family.  With just RM18, you will get 12 sets of  "3 dishes 1 soup" meals that comes with awesome and mouthwatering food pictures!!!  You may also like to visit his blog at http://boonslittlekitchen.blogspot.com.

Recipe source : Boon's Little Kitchen (with some minor modifications in red)

Ingredients :

- 1 bitter gourd (discard seeds and cut)

- 1/2 chicken (cut into bite sized)

- 1 tbsp fermented black beans/tau see (rinsed and roughly chopped)

- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic

- 200ml water

Marinate :

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp tapioca flour

Seasonings : (to taste)

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tsp of caramel sauce 

- a dash of sugar

Method :

1)  Marinate chicken for 30 minutes.

2)  Heat some oil in a medium sized pot.  Saute garlic and tau see until fragrant.

3)  Add in marinated chicken pieces.

4)  Fry until the meat become whitish. Add in bitter gourd.

5)  Add in seasonings.  Stir fry and mix well.

6)  Add water and cover.  Let it  cook for five minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked over low heat.

7) Finally, add a dash of sugar.  Stir and mix well.

8)  Dish out and serve with steamed rice.

Do add extra water if you like to mix your rice with the sauce

Isn't this a good way of introducing bitter gourd to your children?

Have a wonderful week ahead :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

I'm also linking this post with :Cook-Your-Books #4 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

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Salmon in Japanese Vermont Curry

Japanese Vermont Curry is a  curry sauce mix which my children enjoy it very much as it has a touch of apple and honey. It comes in mild, medium hot and hot.  Hubby likes to stock up on Vermont Curry as it is very convenient and easy to prepare.  Moreover, it comes in quite handy when we have run out of ideas what to cook or have a craving for curry. 

We usually cooked it with chicken meat. Once I was very busy and asked hubby to pack food for dinner.  He said he would cook for us.  Of course, go ahead, dear...  I was grinning from ear to ear and here is the Salmon in Japanese Vermont Curry cooked by dear hubby!

It's very easy to prepare.  Even my girls can cook this too.

Ingredients :

- 2 cubes of Vermont Curry

- 1 salmon fillet (cubed)

- 2 potatoes (cubed)

- 1 cup of mixed Veggies

- 1 big onion (chopped)

- 3 to 4 cups of water (depending on how thick you want your sauce to be)

- oil

Method :

1)  For this, hubby just saute some chopped big onions in a medium pot until fragrant.

2)  Then, he added some cubed potatoes and mixed veggies and gave it a quick stir fry.

3)  Later, he added some water just enough for the sauce and let it boil.

4)  When the mixed veggies are almost cooked, he broke the curry sauce mix into pieces before adding it into the pot.

5) Cook over low heat and keep stirring until the curry cube is well mixed with the mixture.

6)  Lastly, he added pieces of salmon fillets.  Continue to simmer until the curry is thickened and the salmon in cooked.

7)  Dish up and serve it with steamed rice.

A simple dish with added special ingredient - LOVE

~Thanks dear for such a wonderful meal~

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