Teochew style porridge with side dishes is popular in Singapore and found in hawker centres, coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and for a while, even served on SIA (Singapore Airlines) flights.
Teochew porridge originated in the Chaoshan region of China's Guangdong province at the boundary with Fujian province to its east. Chaoshan is a cultural-linguistic region with its own culture, language (known as Teochew), and of course, distinctive cuisine.
Facing the South China Sea, Chaoshan is blessed with fresh food from the land and sea. Teochew porridge known as 糜 (mooi or muay) in Teochew is one of the Teochew people's iconic foods.
Teochew people trade and migrate to the south or Nanyang since time immemorial. The peak was during the century of turmoil before the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. Many went to Thailand and British Malaya. Thailand has the largest number of Teochew origin people outside of China, numbering around 5 million. Today, Teochew people form the second largest dialect group in Singapore, second to the Hokkien.
Everywhere the Teochew people went, they brought their cuisine with them, including Teochew porridge.
Teochew porridge is eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper!
In Chaoshan, it is common to have Teochew porridge for two out of three daily meals. For lunch and for dinner, it can be porridge or rice but traditionally for breakfast, it can be nothing but porridge. Indeed, the old Teochew phrase for breakfast is 早糜 which literally means "morning porridge".
It is a popular supper option in Singapore and several large establishments are found near night spots like in Geylang. Teochew porridge is a popular after party and post-drinking meal.
At the heart of Teochew porridge is, of course, the porridge or "muay or mooi". And, the Teochew people have their own unique way of cooking porridge.
The porridge is made by boiling rice grains in water, traditionally in a large earthenware pot. The rice is stirred constantly with a wooden paddle in the pot of boiling water. The heat is removed once the starch starts to be released. The rice gruel is allowed to continue cooking in the residual heat.
The rice is soft tender but still in complete grains. The starchy chalky looking water is known as "auum" in Teochew. "Auum" is believed to have healing properties and aids in recovery from colds and general fatigue. When children are sick, Teochew mothers feed them "auum" and they get well. Auum feels comforting and soul warming.
The porridge is plain and just mildly sweet tasting. It is balanced by savoury side dishes known as 雜咸 chup kiam or literally "mixed savouries". The popular Teochew porridge places have dozens of savoury sides. When it comes to Teochew porridge, it is the more sides the merrier.
Teochew people have Teochew porridge through thick and thin, through good times and bad times.
The most basic savoury side dishes are preserved items. During hard economic times, for example, when Teochew coolies first landed in Singapore, a meal could just be porridge dribbled with soy sauce or given a splash of braising stock. It is eaten with savoury tangy side dishes of kiam chye or preserved mustard, salted duck egg, salted fish and such.
In Singapore and Malaysia, hae bee hiam is a relish used as a basic side dish which is made of grated dried shrimp, chili pepper, shallot, garlic and spices lightly stir fried till richly aromatic.
In better times like now, the side dishes run into dozens like a grand buffet.
In the past, eating porridge was associated with poverty and famine. Cooking grains with a lot of water was a way to stretch the use of limited grains. But, looking at porridge of today, one could easily forget its humble beginnings.
Today, with prosperity, braised side dishes are a must in Teochew porridge. If there are no braised dishes, it is not Teochew porridge.
There are duck, goose, pork belly, pork trotter, pork offal (large and small intestines are favourites), snout and ears, tongue, pork skin, eggs, various forms of tofu, duck blood curd, peanuts, vegetables like cabbage, etc., braised in a blend of soy sauces and a bit of spice.
The braising stock is topped up, replenished and reused. The older the braising stock the better the taste of the braised items coming out of it as it has depth of more layers of savouriness. Some places boast decades old braising stock.
The stir fried dishes are often vegetables. A common stir fried vegetable dish is sambal kang kong (water spinach stir fried with savoury spicy chili relish) or simply Chinese spinach with anchovies.
Other stir fried vegetables include long beans, bitter gourd, egg plant, etc. There are also stir fried seafood like clams.
Fried fish are also popular. These could be the tail or meaty steaks. Lightly battered and fried in a wok with a shallow pool of oil till the outside is golden brown while the inside remains tender and moist. The fish's fresh sweet taste is retained.
Steamed fishes and seafood are luxury items in a Teochew porridge spread. These are cooked a la minute with fresh fish and seafood like squid. Teochew style steamed fish is simply dressed with salted vegetables, julienned ginger, tomato, and preserved sour plum.
Popular fishes are white pomfret, ikan kurau, etc. Exotic fishes like this empurau fish are also in demand in Singapore and Malaysia.
Steamed crabs served chilled is a popular dish.
Fish rice is not rice at all and it is a uniquely Teochew dish. It is traditionally made by blanching fish, squid, etc., in sea water. It is called fish rice because in the old days when Teochew fishermen go out to sea, they do not bring rice with them. They simply blanch the small, low value fish and eat them as they would eat rice, hence the phrase fish rice.
Today, bigger and premium fish are made into fish rice. Fish rice is usually laid out in traditional bamboo trays. They look rustic and irresistibly delicious.
Fish rice is disappearing in Singapore. There is only one fish rice producer left in Singapore.
潮式冷烏頭魚 Teochew chilled grey mullet fish. The fish is simply steamed without any sauce or seasoning, allowed to cool and served without dressing at room temperature. It is one of the signature side dishes of Teochew porridge. It's an example of how Teochew people prize freshness in their seafood.
Raw marinates are crustaceans and shellfish marinated in a blend of soy sauces and a bit of spices. It is eaten raw. The juicy crustaceans and shellfish are fresh and any bacteria is killed by soaking in the soy sauce. No hot cooking is involved and the dish is often served chilled. Raw marinates taste savoury, briny with a bit of fresh taste from the seafood.
Fried prawn, pork and Chinese five spice rolls known as hae cho are well loved.
There are so many other side dishes like steamed pork patties and pork balls. This steamed pork with salted egg yolk 鹹蛋蒸豬肉 is also known as 肉蛋 when could mean meat and egg or cheekily, sex bomb 😂
There's also omelette of beaten egg either plain or sometimes filled with onion or chopped preserved turnip. The latter is known as "chai po nerg". Fish cakes and fish balls made from paste of ikan parang fish, yellowtail fish are usually among the side dishes. Deep fried crisps like savoury salty dried anchovies and prawn crackers go well with plain watery porridge.
During Chinese New Year, Teochew people in Singapore must have rabbit fish filled with roe or milt. It is considered an auspicious dish bringing good fortune.
Every Teochew porridge restaurant or stall have their own repertoire and specialties to attract and retain their customers.
No wonder eating Teochew porridge is such a joy for all, from the most humble sides to the most premium, there is something for everyone.
Dips are an important part of Teochew porridge. There are over a dozen different types of dips for different side dishes. There are dips made with fermented soy beans, chili pepper, garlic, preserved plum, soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, etc. Different dips are used for different side dishes. For example, the spicy sourish dips are for braised meats. The sourish sweet preserved sour plum dip is for steamed squid.
Teochew porridge originated in Chaoshan, but is also found everywhere where there are Teochew people.
Outside of Chaoshan, Teochew porridge retains the core features of Teochew porridge such as the "auum muay" while the side dishes include some local dishes.
For example, otak otak or spicy fish paste and coconut milk traditionally wrapped in attap leaf and grilled is common in Singapore and Malaysia Teochew porridge places. Now, it is mostly made in pans and cooked by steaming.
Besides the traditional Teochew style steamed fish, it is also common to have savoury spicy sourish asam pedas fish in Malaysian Teochew porridge places.
Plain auum mooi is perfect with asam pedas dishes due to the sharp contrast in bland sweet and assertive spicy sourish flavours. I love it.
Curry stingray is common in Singapore and Malaysia. Curry shark meat is rarely found nowadays, especially in Singapore.
The largest concentration of Teochew overseas are in Thailand. Teochew prorridge is known as Khao Tom Kui ข้าวต้มกุ๊ย in Thai.
In Thailand, the porridge is sometimes flavoured with stalks of sweet and fragrant pandan leaves (screw pine leaves). Thai side dishes and dips lean heavier on use of chili pepper, garlic, lime and fish sauce.
References:
Image of man having mooi courtesy of NAS, image of Zhou dynasty cooking vessel courtesy of Wikipedia, image of Geylang courtesy of Flickr, map of Chaoshan courtesy of Wikipedia.
Excellent article Tony! Enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThank you
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