Pork Congee with Dried Scallops

Yields

4 bowls

Ingredients

500g 五花肉cubed

10 medium sized dried scallops

1 tsp salt

2.5 of water

1 packet of MMMM pork bone stock

75ml of Nabe seafood soup base

2 cups of rice

Instructions

1. Rinse 2 cups of rice. Put in the freezer overnight. This breaks down the rice and cuts down the cooking time (learnt from 阿基師 偷呷步).
2. Cut 五花肉 into 1" cubes. Marinate with 1tsp of salt. Leave aside.
3. Boil 2.5ltr of water together with 1 packet of MMMM pork bone stock and 75ml of Nabe seafood soup base. Once the soup is boiling, put in the 五花肉 cubes, pre-soaked dried scallops and rice.
4. Keep stirring till the porridge is thick and smooth.
5. Switch off the stove and cover the pot for at least 15mins to allow the porridge to thicken.
6. Scoop and serve with pepper and spring onion.

Note

You can also add salted eggs or century eggs into the porridge.

Vacuum Sealing Without Using a Vacuum Sealer

Hubby has been asking me to bulk shop for meats and freeze them, as I am starting to cook more nowadays. He feels it's a waste of time to go to the market every day, when I should go once or twice a week, to make more efficient use of my time.

Point taken.

Today we went to the wet market and bought 3 kg of pork, 6 chicken legs (drum + thigh), a dollar worth of chicken gizzards and half a kilo of fresh prawns. As I was preparing to pack the food... I was thinking how great if I had a lot of freezermate, which isn't really that practical monetary wise. Suddenly I recalled a life hack I saw on FB some time ago - to vacuum seal without using a vacuum sealer.

Must try it out. So armed with a container of water and ziploc bags, I tried out the life hack and ZOMG it worked... not exactly 100% vacuum sealed like with a machine but good enough. A cheaper and yet efficient method.

Put the meat in the ziploc bag, close till there is a 1"-2" gap. Place the ziploc bag into the container of water, and close properly. Make sure water doesn't get into the bag.

Vacuum sealed chicken legs.

Vacuum sealed minced pork.

Vacuum sealed chicken gizzards.

All packed and ready to be frozen. :)