There are so many recipes for fish porridge on the internet, but not many Singaporean ones. Even if they are Singaporean, they tend to be of the Teochew variety. My favourite fish porridge in Singapore comes from Sin Heng Kee – thick and luscious, like Cantonese juk. I’ve learnt a tip from my friend Colin and froze my rice – this allows the rice to break down quickly in the cooking process. You can add whatever you want to the porridge – I love mine with century egg, a raw egg, crispy onions, spring onions and youtiao.
Fish Porridge
Serves 3-4
Advance preparation:
100g jasmine rice
50g glutinous rice
40g peanuts
50g dried yuba, broken up finely
½ teaspoon baking soda
1L water
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1. Rinse rice, drain and freeze 2 hours or until frozen.
2. Soak peanuts for 2 hours.
3. Soak the yuba in baking soda and water for 30 minutes.
4. Cover the red onion with just enough oil and fry until golden brown.
5. Strain the onion to get onion-infused oil and crispy onion.
For stock:
4 tablespoons shallot oil
350g fish bones
50g ginger
25g spring onion whites
1 teaspoon white peppercorn
2 tablespoons Shaoxing
3L water
1. Heat a pot and add the shallot oil.
2. Fry the fish bones, ginger, spring onion and white peppercorn until aromatic.
3. Add the drained tofu skin and Shaoxing wine.
4. Fry for a minute or two then add the water.
5. Cook 1 hour.
6. Strain – resist the urge to season the stock.
For the porridge:
2L stock
Frozen rice
Soaked and drained peanuts
1 teaspoon salt
1 century egg, chopped
300g sliced fish, marinated with a dash of Shaoxing and soy and big pinch of cornflour for 30min
Raw egg
Fried onions
Spring onion, sliced
Youtiao (dough fritters)
White pepper
Soy
1. Combine the stock, rice and peanuts.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes or until the porridge is thick and creamy.
3. Season with salt.
4. Add the century egg and sliced fish.
5. Heat until the fish is cooked through.
6. Spoon into bowls and serve with raw egg, fried onions, spring onions and youtiao. Extra white pepper and soy are good to have on the side.