In Praise Of Porridge

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It is 7:30 am and I have just finished a bowl of porridge for breakfast; the oatmeal variety with a dollop of honey stirred in.

This hearty fare sticks to your ribs and is a great starter on a cold winter's morning.  As a child we often had this for breakfast but in those days before the advent of dietary heath consciousness a sprinkle of brown sugar and fresh cream would accompany the meal.

I had a friend who lived on a dairy farm a few  miles away in the country and whenever I stayed with him we used to get pale gold cream fresh from the dairy which was an even better topping.

Oat porridge is an ancient food and has been found in the stomachs of 5,000 year old Neolithic bog bodies

My first experience with porridge in Singapore occurred in 1982 when I was returning from a week's holiday in Penang and was homeward bound for New Zealand on a 'red eye flight', with a day's stop over in Singapore.

Quite by chance the seat next to me was occupied by a very friendly Brunei business man who, on discovering that I was an art museum director with an interest in Asian art, invited me to join him at an exhibition of contemporary Chinese masters which as staged at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

First though would I  like to join him for breakfast in town?  The answer was of course in the affirmative and so off we went by taxi to the Mandarin Hotel.

Would I like a bowl of porridge for breakfast?  Yes of course.

Imagine then my surprise when instead of oatmeal, a bowl of rice gruel was placed before me.  The accompaniments of small dried fish, salty duck egg and pickled vegetable we at that time equally foreign but  enjoyed the experience nevertheless.

Over the years I have grown to love porridge or to give it its Singapore name, congee or jok.  There are various styles but my preference is for the Taiwanese variety. One can have it with braised duck, fish, century egg or shreds of chicken meat.

For the officianado there is even frog porridge which tastes sweeter and is a more delicate meat than chicken. Frogs take three years to grow to a size that is acceptable for the pot whereas chicken takes just three months.  It is therefore usually a more expensive variety of porridge.  Reportedly a pot with two frogs costs about $Sing 14.

There are online forums dedicated to the relative merits of Teochew porridge stalls which many people prefer to the Taiwanese variety.

According to the experts Teochew Porridge must have the "Mountain and the Sea", in other words the right proportion of water and rice.

"The Teochew Muay connoiseur can tell you immediately if a particular Teochew Muay stall is worth eating at by just eyeing the bowl of porridge. Firstly, what we want to see is the "Swa ga Hai" (Mountain and Sea) which basically means that the porridge is watery but not overly watered down. Secondly, the rice must remain whole and unbroken. The best Teochew Muay places throw away the pot of porridge when the rice breaks."

My favorite condiment is a fermented bean curd known as 'Chinese cheese' (fuyu) which is pungent and gives the rice a bite.  It is not to most westerner's taste but that has never stopped me.

Porridge of both western and Chinese varieties are very good for those in their dotage so it will no doubt remain a staple in the years to come!

Last Meals

Changi airport  is humming with the replays of the World Cup as I write. Various males are reclining in a variety of postures and a mock grandstand has been set up to add to the ambience.

I am feeling somewhat like a condemned man after having eaten a last meal of chicken rice at the Killeney Kopitiam on the third floor of Terminal Three.

My wife complained of a chilly right foot and we belatedly discovered that the sole of one of her sand shoes had detached from the upper.  Such are the unplanned joys of travel.

Our flight departs at 9:10 pm and ten hours later we will reach Auckland.

I shall miss Changi which has become almost a home away from home this past year as I travel back and forth throughout Asia.  It is undoubtedly the finest airport in the world.

We are feeling quite pleased with ourselves as the combined weight of our luggage did not exceed the prescribed limit of 50 kilos.

Food For Thought

As my time in Singapore nears it end I thought I would start highlighting some of the little things that have really appealed.

It is no coincidence that there have been several references to food in my previous posts. One of the great delights of this country is the sheer variety of food and its abundance. Whatever style of cuisine you fancy, it's all here.

And it is not hellishly expensive. Over the four years we have abandoned any pretence of home cooking and our main meal of the day (lunch) is consumed at hawker stalls, food courts and the occasional mid-range restaurant.

My favourite is Malaysian food.  Spicy, with varying degree of hotness, it is also some of the most flavoursome.  Just yesterday a meal at the food court in the Botanic Gardens (pictured above) cost a mere $5.80 for two meat and two veg; served as almost all meals are, with a generous portion of rice.

At our local Queenstown food courts the prices are even cheaper with one meat and two veg from the economy food stall costing under $3.  We frequent the second of these food courts; the one furthest away from the MRT escalators.

Not that all hawker stalls are so salubrious.  The rather infamous Sheik Allaudin, managed to kill two people and poison 150 others with his unhygienic practices. The National Environment Agency (NEA) has decreed that he will never again sell Indian rojak and he was very lucky he was not charged with manslaughter.  He escaped with a $9,000 fine and in my opinion got off very lightly.


But even this should not deter people people from trying the real food of Singapore.  It is not to be found in the sanitised mall food courts.  One needs to go to the 'Heartland' to get the best the country has to offer.  Places such as the Redhill where the Teochew style Satay Bee Hoon is legendary and the queue is lengthy.

Eating is a national passion and I have enjoyed every culinary moment since we arrived in 2006 and during my many trips preceding that date.

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