I haven’t been running on all eight[i] this week. The weather has turned, and I feel like my seasonal affective disorder[ii] is about to kick in.

To feel happy, I thought I’d make some rice porridge with beef short rib meat.

Rice porridge is known by many as congee. I grew up calling it jook. I know “The Mouse” from Live2EatEat2Live Blog also calls it jook. The Mouse is a brother from another mother. He lives in Spamland[iii]. We’ve been following each other’s blogs for at least 16 years.

I’ve been thinking about The Mouse a bit lately as I continue to watch Hawaii Five-0.

In Season 7 episode 13, Lou describes the joy of dunking malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery in coffee. A malasada is a Portuguese deep-fried, yeast-raised doughnut without a hole, traditionally coated in sugar. I remember in 2015 eating half a dozen custard-filled malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery, but not dunking them in coffee.

I don’t know that I can find a Portuguese deep-fried, yeast-raised doughnut filled with custard locally. To compensate, I got a cinnamon scroll from my local patisserie and enjoyed morning tea by dunking it into a mug of black coffee.

The cinnamon scroll absorbed the coffee without becoming soggy. The mouthfeel and flavour of the sweet dough cut through the coffee’s bitterness perfectly. Unfurling the scroll and breaking off pieces for dunking made the whole affair most enjoyable. It was so good, I think I’d even do this in public.

Of course, when I think of Spamland, I think of Spam[iv]. I had Spam for lunch yesterday and today.

Recipe

Ingredients

• Rice
• Beef short ribs
• Salt
• Water
• Beef broth (from previous beef short rib meals cooked in the pressure cooker)
• Egg

Equipment

• Pressure cooker
• Microwave oven

Instructions

1. Wash one cup of rice until the water is clear.
2. Place the rice and beef broth in the pressure cooker, then add water until the total liquid volume is 8 cups.
3. Add salt.
4. Cook for 1 hour, then allow the pressure to return to 1 atmosphere naturally.
5. Strip the meat from the ribs.
6. Shred the meat and mix it through the rice gruel.
7. Aliquot enough for a dinner bowl.
8. Put the rest in a container and refrigerate.
9. When cool. Place a cup of rice porridge into a vacuum bag for freezing. There should be enough for six bags. Freezing the rice porridge will create resistant starch.
10. Poach an egg with microwave radiation.
11. Serve the rice porridge with a poached egg.

Thoughts on the rice porridge

This was a “no frills” rice porridge. It was not flavourful like my mother’s, which is my favourite food.

My version was filling, and I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t share this with anyone; it was bland and not a good example of how good rice porridge can taste.

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[i] In Australian colloquial speech, “running on all eight” means someone is functioning at full capacity — mentally sharp, physically energised, and performing at their best.

[ii] A depressive disorder usually associated with the onset of winter weather.

[iii] Hawaii

[iv] Pork with ham; salt; water; modified potato starch; sugar; sodium nitrite. Modified potato starch is potato starch that has been physically, enzymatically, or chemically altered to change its functional properties (viscosity, stability, freeze–thaw resistance, gelling, etc.). It is still made from the starch extracted from potatoes, but its molecular structure has been intentionally changed so it performs better in industrial food processing.