Chinese Porridge with Pork and Century Egg (皮蛋瘦肉粥)

Chinese porridge (congee) or jook in Cantonese, is a classic Chinese breakfast. For Cantonese people, we like to add sliced pork and century eggs inside for great flavor. My favorite is putting in extra ginger too.

To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of jook but I love eating it with youtiao, a Chinese fried dough stick. The youtiao is crispy and chewy/soft in the center. It can be bought pre-made and is available in many asian grocery stores. Dip the youtiao in the congee to soak the broth or jook for a tasty bite and I love how it’s still crunchy after dipping ◡̈

If you don’t have youtiao, you can serve with salted preserve vegetables. Salted preserve vegetables give it a salty flavor and is usually added in steamed Chinese pork patty. For breakfast, you can also serve the jook with shrimp and egg stir fry.

Where do I get you tiao (fried dough sticks)?

You can get youtiao in the frozen aisle at asian grocery stores like 99 ranch and Hmart. Its found next to the buns and baos. Buy a pack and heat in your air fryer or oven according to the package directions for a crispy exterior. It tastes super delicious even if its frozen!

If you want to get the century eggs or thousand year old eggs, I recommend going to 99 ranch or your local asian grocery. I found these eggs next to the salted egg yolks section. They taste very mild or slightly salty. Hard to explain if you haven’t tried it yet but goes great with the congee/porridge.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR YOUR CHINESE PORRIDGE:

pork marinade:

• pork loin, tenderized & sliced
• salt
• sugar
• chicken bouillon
• ginger, thinly sliced
• corn starch
• water
• olive oil

porridge/congee (Jook):

• thousand year old egg (add more if you like)
• sliced pork – use as much or little as you like (if you don’t finish the pork, use it in stir fries!)
• water
• jasmine rice (recommended) or short grain rice
• salt (adjust to your liking)
• chicken bouillon

garnish:

• sliced ginger
• sliced green onions

STEPS TO MAKE THE CHINESE PORRIDGE:

1. Slice ginger ginger and green onions. Set aside.
2. Tenderize and slice the pork (if you can’t eat pork, you can slice some chicken breast instead). Marinate with ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon sliced ginger, ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon chicken bouillon, 1 tablespoon corn starch, 2 tablespoons water and ½ tablespoon olive oil. Mix together until there is no liquid left in the pork marinade.
3. Rinse rice 2 to 3 times after soaking and strain the water.
4. Boil 4 cups water. Once water has boiled, add rice and cook for 20 minutes until thick on medium-low heat. Cover the pot with a lid half way (or uncovered). Be careful the water may overflow so keep an eye on the stove! Stir at the 10 minute mark a few times so the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom too much and stirring a few times helps create that thick texture.
5. After 20 minutes of cooking, stir the rice around and gradually add the pork and stir a few times. Cut up your century egg and add inside. Cook for 5 more minutes.
6. Garnish jook with green onions and ginger.
7. Jook goes perfectly with you tiao (chinese donut). Take the you tiao, chinese donut, out of the freezer and bake or air fry according to package directions. You can cut up the yu tiao in small pieces, but we also like dipping it in the jook.

More Delicious Chinese Dishes

• Sweet and Sour Chinese Spareribs – Flavorful and tender ribs cooked in Chinese black vinegar, green onions and garlic for the perfect appetizer!
• Shanghai Rice Cakes – stir fried rice cakes with mushrooms, bok choy, and minced pork.
• Chinese Stuffed Peppers – flavorful shrimp and pork filled peppers that are pan-fried to perfection!