Millet porridge

Porridge/ congee is a common substitute for rice among the Chinese. It is a preferred meal especially during hot weather or when a person’s body is heaty. It can be cooked in cooking pot, rice cooker, crock pot, slow cooker, claypot or pressured cooker. When my son was younger, I like to cook porridge using a slow-cooker. Although it took a longer time, the texture of the porridge is smoother and more viscous. At the same time I can attend to other housework and not need to worry whether the porridge would burn. However, after I moved over to Singapore, I like to cook my porridge using a claypot or cooking pot because it is faster. Sometimes, when time is a constraint, I would boil millet porridge as it cooks faster than rice porridge.

According to chetday.com, millet is a highly nutritious, healthful and versatile grain. It is the 6th most important grain in the world. Due to this, I always add a small amount of millet to my porridge or rice.

Today I will share with you the millet porridge I cooked few weeks ago. On that day, my son who had just recovered from his fever, was having a sore throat. I brought him to see the pediatrician. It was extremely late by the time we reached home. So I decided to cook millet porridge which is not only suitable for his condition but also serves as a quick, easy and healthy lunch. To make porridge more nutritious and tasty, I added a variety of available ingredients into the porridge.

Below is my own version of millet porridge. I didn’t measure the ingredients as I was in a rush that day. I just did a “mix and match” for all the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:
Millet
Rice
Pumpkin puree
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Baby sweet corns
Cherry tomatoes
Snowpeas
Ham

Seasonings:
Salt
White pepper powder
Sesame oil

Other recommended ingredients:
Grains : quinoa, buckwheat, green beans (mung beans), red beans, barley
Vegetables: carrot, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, leafly vegetables, broccoli (florets or stems), cauliflowers, green peas, edamame (Japanese soy bean), fresh lily bulbs, sweetcorns
Meat : fish, pork, chicken
Others : huai san (Chinese yam), wolfberries

Methods:
1) Wash rice and millet. Fill pot with water approx 2x the amount of the grain. Reduce water if using crock pot or slow cooker. Bring water and grain to boil.
2) Stir occasionally to prevent the rice/ grain from sticking to the bottom. Add water from time to time. Use medium to low heat. Cook until the rice / grain break down and achieve the consistency level you want.
3) Add in other ingredients and cook according to the required cooking time.
4) Add in seasoning. Turn off the flame and serve.

Other recommended recipes:
-kiddy porridge
-claypot chicken rice
-sushi rolls

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Kiddy porridge

Ingredients:
¼ cup uncooked rice
¼ cup millet (u can replace with uncooked rice)
10 sunflower seeds
10 pumpkin seeds
10g fresh lily bulbs
50g pumpkin (cut into cubes)
2 baby sweetcorns
20g fish (cut into slides)
Broccoli stem (cut into cubes)
Handful of frozen green peas
Spring onion (chopped)
Water for boiling

Seasonings:
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of sesame oil

Methods:
1. Wash rice and millet. Add in enough water (approx 3x the rice amount), sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds in a cooking pot.
2. Cook with high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook (with lid slightly open) for another 15 mins.
3. Add in pumpkins, baby sweetcorns & broccoli stems. Cook for another 10 mins.
4. Add in lily bulb, green peas and cook for another 1 min.
5. Add in fish and seasonings and stir-well. Cook for a while and turn off the heat.
6. Put some fried onion oil (optional) and sprinkle with spring onion.

Note:
There are many ways to cook porridge - eg cooking pot, slow cooker and claypot. I prefer to use claypot as the texture turns out to be smoother compared to others.

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