Century Egg Porridge with Lean Meat

Pi Tan Shou Rou Chow is really one of the nicest dish I have ever accomplished. I normally cook this when Greg and I are overloaded with junk (ie. rich food for few days/weeks in a row) and for the cell suppers. It's especially good on rainy evenings.

Porridge for me has always been equated with supper somehow. Maybe it was because of all those good uni years when we braved freezing cold to go out for porridge at Supper Inn.

I have cooked this a few times before but Greg usually digs in straight away without taking the photos. It almost happened again. But this time around, I managed to scream at him before the spoon went into his mouth.

To say this is a clean and clear dish is not really true because I loaded it up with lots of goodness. It is more like a one pot goodness = I'm lazy.

200 gm of jasmine grain
45 gm of glutinous grain
200mm x 200mm beancurd sheet, cut to small strips
4 cups of water

1) Clean rice and place in a pot filled with water. Cut beancurd sheet to strips size of 1cm x 3-4 cm long and cook together with rice. Let it simmer till water almost dries up and grain becomes wet rice. You can do this in the morning and set aside till before you want to cook.

100 - 150 gm of lean pork loin (the beginning part of that long strip)

1/2 teasp of salt
1/2 teasp of pepper
3/4 teasp of sugar
1 tbsp of cornflour with some water.

2) Cut meat into long thin strips. Season with seasoning and set aside. This is a way of treating the meat and when you cook it, the texture will be smooth and tasty.

180 gm of minced pork (I like to use 5 flower meat and ask my butcher to grind it)
1 teasp of salt

1/2 teasp of pepper
1 1/2 tbsp of maggi seasoning/ 2 maggi concentrated chicken stock
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp of cornflour with some water

3) Season the meat and set aside.

9- 12 cups of water
2-3 century eggs, diced

2 stalks of spring onion
1 tbsp of minced ginger
1 tbsp of chicken stock
salt, pepper and sesame oil to taste

4) In a big pot, pour water (start with 8 to 9 cups first) to the (1) mixture. Loosen the wet rice as you pour the water in. Boil uncovered. Stir. Continue adding water up. When boiling, add (3) bit by bit. Turn to small fire.

5) Add century eggs, minced ginger and chicken stock. Continue stirring over small fire. Finally add (2) and seasoing to taste. Add water if too sticky. Boil for another 5 min or so for the lean meat to cook. Serve with chopped spring onion and homemade yu tiao.

Tip:
If you like your porridge watery, you can add another cup or two of water. We like ours watery sticky NOT sticky sticky nor watery porridge-below-water-on-top. This water bit is very personal.

But do remember, if you dont serve immediately and let it cool, porridge will tend to absorb water and becomes thicker. Your rice type has an effect too.

Cook uncovered at all time. Stirring continously is important. Prevent burnt bottom.