Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 30min
Servings: 6

Porridge

1. Rice x 200ml

2. Little fish x 50g

   • • You can use the non-dried kind that you can get at the wet market or from Hockhua as well.

3. Mili brand canned peanuts

4. Red dates x 4

5. Ginger x 1 small knob, sliced

6. Light soy sauce to taste

7. Maple syrup / sugar to taste

8. Optional: Maggi chicken stock cubes

Garnish

1. Light soy sauce x 1 drizzle

2. Mashed salted duck eggs x 3 eggs

3. White pepper powder

4. Spring onions, chopped small

5. Sesame oil

   • • There is a difference between the sesame oil used for garnish and the ones used for cooking.

     • The sesame oil you use for cooking is less fragrant and usually a slightly lighter colour. Its fragrance comes out more when it's heated. For the ones used for garnish, it is already very fragrant and does not need to be heated any more. The ones used for garnish are usually sold in small bottles.

     • I personally like the Sunlight brand sesame oil for garnish.

6. Optional: Fried shallots

   • • I don't usually put this if someone in my family is unwell because it's heaty.

1. Taste one of the little fish for saltiness. If it's too salty, soak the fish for around 10-15 minutes.

   • • This brand that I bought (Chuan Heng Bee) is not too salty, so I just rinsed it out three times to remove dirt and sandy particles.

2. Wash the rice twice to remove excess starch.

3. Cut the red dates twice each with a pair of kitchen scissors so that it will release its sweetness into the porridge.

4. Put all porridge ingredients into the pressure cooker or a cooking pot. Add 1.6 litres of water.

• I like to use the pressure cooker because that means I don't have to watch the pot.

• If you're using a cooking pot on a stove, add more water, because the water will evaporate. Stir constantly to prevent the porridge from burning at the base and add more water again if it looks like it's becoming too thick.

5. Set the pressure cooker to the "Porridge/Congee" setting, 20 minutes. Leave it alone to cook.

6. Whilst the porridge is cooking, prepare the garnish ingredients.

• Chop the spring onions.

• Boil the salted duck eggs if yours are not the cooked kind. Cut open and mash the salted duck eggs.

7. Once the porridge is cooked, taste the porridge. Add light soy sauce, salt and maple syrup to taste.

• It's difficult to prescribe how much to add because I find that the saltiness of the fish varies a lot from brand to brand and even within the same brand.

• You should also factor in the saltiness of your salted eggs, which again is quite varied. If they're very salty, then you should take this into account when adjusting the saltiness of the porridge.

• There are times when I don't add anything to the porridge at all, and there are other times when I have to add 2 or more tbsp of soy sauce and maple syrup and salt.

• On very rare occasions, you may even need to add chicken stock cubes. Add 1 cube at a time.

8. Scoop the porridge out into a bowl, then garnish with salted egg, spring onions, white pepper powder, a small drizzle of light soy sauce and sesame oil.

9. Serve hot. Enjoy!