Canton Street Style Chicken Porridge.
When I lived in the Far East I used to eat this dish at least once a week. After much experimentation I finally cracked the recipe. After a few failed attempts I was shocked that I managed to replicate this dish to almost exacting standards. It’s a piece of piss really. The secret would you believe is white pepper.
Ingredients:
White rice, chicken breast, chicken stock, ginger, soya sauce, spring onions, shallots, salt, white pepper (do not use black pepper), sesame oil, white wine vinegar or any vinegar really.
In a large plate add some salt, white pepper, finely chopped ginger, a glug of the best soya sauce, a smaller glug of sesame seed oil, a couple of tablespoons of vinegar.
Cut chicken breast into bite size chunks or thin slices (what ever you prefer) and transfer onto the same plate and marinate all the ingredients together. Ensuring the chicken is rubbed into the sauce vigourously.
In a rice cooker or pan add the rice, congealed chicken stock, add four times more cold water than you would normally use to steam rice (this equates to roughly four inches of water above the rice). You can also use cold chicken stock if you so desire.
Switch on the rice cooker or use a saucepan on a very low heat (making sure you have a lid on). After the rice is 3/4 of the way cooked (5 minutes from the end) stir in the chicken and cover with lid
use finely chopped spring onions and fried shallots to garnish the porridge once it is on the plate. add a drizzle of soya sauce and serve.
Traditionally you will find in any chicken porridge stall a bowl of dried shallots, which would have been shallow fried and strained onto a napkin to absorb the oil. This is frankly a pain the arse, however you can buy a jar of these dried shallots from most Chinese supermarkets.
What you should end up with his a watery consistency of soft chicken breast, fresh spring onions and dried crispy shallots on top.
