Pumpkin Porridge (Congee)

The weather is starting to cool down and the that wintery bite to it, so nows the time to start reducing your raw foods and increasing warming foods to your diet.  This pumpkin porridge aka congee is perfect for a cold winters day to warm and nourish you on the inside.  Get creative and try it a for breakfast, after all isn’t that when we usually eat porridge, in Asia they do.

Ingredients

2 cups long grain white rice
5 cups vegetable stock or water 1 tbsp vegetable oil
750 g pumpkin peeled and grafted
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetarian fish sauce (soy sauce)

1\2 tsp freshly ground
black pepper
2 cm knob fresh ginger, julienned
4 spring onion, sliced
4 tbsp roughly chopped thai basil 4 saw-tooth coriander stems, sliced

Method

  • Put the rice in a large colander or sieve and rinse under cold running water. Place your hand in the centre of the rice and move it in a circular motion, to ensure the water runs freely over all the rice. When the water runs clear, drain the rice.
  • Place the rice in a dry frying pan and toast over high heat for 1 min, moving the rice continuously so it colours evenly.
  • Place one-quarter of the rice in a mortar and break the grains with the pestle.
  • Bring 1L (4 cups) of stock or water to the boil.
  • In another saucepan, heat the oil. Add the pumpkin and all the rice and fry over medium heat for 1 min. Pour in the boiling stock and stir in the sugar, salt, vege fish sauce snd pepper. Reduce the heat snd gently simmer for about 20 mins, stirring regularly.
  • Stir in the ginger through and simmer for a further 5 mins, or until the rice is cooked. Remove from the heat and stir the spring onion snd herbs through. Serve in six individual bowls, sprinkled with extra black pepper, if desired.