Chinese Pumpkin Porridge

A bowl of bright orange leftover pumpkin puree Chinese porridge jook.

5 from 47 votes

Adapted from the recipe of a Michelin star Chinese restaurant (in a 5-star hotel) to make it possible for daily weeknight dinners!

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Total Time50

Course: Breakfast, Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings:

Calories: 291kcal

Author: Zen

Equipment

Pot
Rice cooker if not cooking rice on stovetop

Ingredients

0.26 oz Thai jasmine rice (120g) This makes about 4-5 (Chinese) bowls of porridge, so I've indicated it as serving 2 people but of course it depends on how much you eat and how many side dishes you serve.
2 dried scallops (conpoy) Rinse gently then soak in ½ Cup of hot water for 30 minutes. Add the soaking water to the pot too. If you don't have any, try some of these dried scallop substitutes.
4 cups chicken stock Add more chicken stock/ water at the end if you prefer a more watery porridge. Substitute: 1 chicken bouillon cube mixed in 4 Cups of hot water.
0.77 lb Japanese kabocha (350g) You can substitute this with regular pumpkin or store-bought pumpkin puree to make cooking quicker. Pumpkin puree will not need to be boiled for as long as the cubed kabocha!
0.5 lb garoupa fillet (226g) Optional. You can also substitute with other types of white fish, prawns. or crabmeat. If you use canned abalone, feel free to add up to 5 Tablespoons of the abalone brine to the soup.
1 spring onion Optional Garnish. Coriander not recommender.

Fish Marinade

½ teaspoon Salt Or to taste.
½ teaspoon sugar Note: even if not adding fish, add this directly to the chicken pumpkin porridge.
½ teaspoon light soya sauce Use tamari if on a GF diet. Note: even if not adding fish, add this directly to the chicken pumpkin porridge.
½ tablespoon Cornflour Do not add this to the porridge if not adding fish!

Seasoning

1 tablespoon Chinese shaoxing wine Substitute: sherry
Salt to taste

Instructions

Cook rice as per normal in a rice cooker (or stove if that's your usual.) This will take about 40 minutes in a rice cooker. (Note that the pumpkin only requires 10 minutes or so of boiling to be cooked FYI so don't start boiling just yet.)
At the same time, rinse then soak your dried scallops in ½ Cup of hot water to soften (covered.) Don't wash off all the white powder you see on the scallops- these are usually the "umami" bits!
If using fish- optional as I've tested without it and the porridge is still very tasty- marinate them now in the sugar, light soy sauce, salt and cornflour. After marinating for 30 minutes (in the fridge), slice the fish thinly and set aside if not using yet.
15-20 minutes before you want to serve your meal, bring a pot of chicken stock to the boil. Add the pumpkin cubes and dried scallops, along with the soaking water. (If your pumpkin has already been steamed or microwaved, lower to a simmer before adding the pumpkin and stirring till well-mixed.) Boil for about 10 minutes or till the pumpkin is soft enough to pierce with a fork.
Lower the heat to a simmer and, if using, add the fish now to poach till cooked. If not using fish, add the same quantity of soy sauce and sugar to the porridge (as per the marinade.)
Add the shaoxing wine and cooked rice. Stir, taste and season with salt if necessary. (If you are using unsalted homemade chicken stock, salting is crucial here.)
Garnish with spring onions before serving.

Notes

Other ways to cook pumpkin besides boiling

You can also steam the pumpkin till soft then mash it up with a fork. Alternatively, you could also skip the arm workout and blitz in the blender. The fastest method is microwave the pumpkin (with a bit of water) till it becomes soft - about 5 minutes at 800W.

For a smooth porridge with no pumpkin chunks, blend the pumpkin and chicken broth before adding the fish.

Variations: when I have king oyster mushrooms, I cut them into long strips and add them to the porridge.

If you have too much dried scallops, use them in 1 of these Chinese scallop recipes.

Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.

Nutrition