First attempt at porridge

No, we do not eat tarts everyday.

And yes, we cook Chinese food regularly, except that when it comes to Chinese cooking, instinct took over step-by-step recipes. Like simple stir frys based on memory of mom or maid's cooking. Or throwing whatever vegetables and meat we can find in our fridge into soup for noodles, or rice cooker for an all-in-one pot of flavoured rice (black bean sauce, I discovered, works pretty well, same for chicken stock with garlic and ginger for chicken rice. No more spending money on those ready claypot rice mix).

We love porridge, but never attempted them, believing that it takes hours to achieve that smooth, tasty consistency. But we have to start sometime, especially when faced with an almost empty fridge just before our weekly grocery shopping on a lazy Saturday late morning.

My cookbook "Porridge for Lazy People", bought in Xiamen, came in handy. The proportion of rice to water is about 100g rice to about 7 cups water. Add in some frozen prawns, canned and dried mushrooms, chicken stock, soya sauce, simmer for about 40 minutes (according to the recipe, we are supposed to boil violently in high fire the rice and water before starting the simmering process) and voilah! A tasty porridge, just enough for two for a Saturday brunch.