Fried Porridge? Really?

 

By Lee Yu Kit

October 5, 2020

 At first blush, Fried Porridge sounds like an exaggerated food oxymoron, like ‘healthy char kuay teow’ and ‘steamed goreng pisang’. Unlike the latter two, though, ‘fried porridge’ not only exists but has been around for several years.

After several close shaves and aborted promises – notably to try Klang’s well-known “Bubur Goreng” in Taman Berkeley, I finally did get around to try the real thing, when MK Porridge opened their 4^th outlet in August, in SS2, Petaling Jaya.

As far as I can determine, ‘fried porridge’ is a Malaysian invention, with claimed provenance from the northern part of the country.  It isn’t as extravagantly outlandish as it sounds, if you consider it to be a logical and wet extension of fried rice.

Besides porridge, MK Porridge serves noodles and rice with a variety of meats – charsiew, roast pork, roast duck, chicken, and accompanying dishes. Porridge is their flagship offering, and fried porridge, a specialty.

Porridge has always been valued – among fans of porridge, that is – for its smooth texture. Making the plain and ordinary extraordinary is the highest expression of the culinary art. As simple as it appears, outstanding porridge is not often encountered, requiring skill, experience and closely guarded secrets.

Fried porridge involves tossing cooked porridge into a smoking hot wok, briefly tossing the porridge to invoke the Maillard reaction to imbue complex, rich flavours to white porridge. Ingredients as varied as salted fish and mushrooms add to the richness of the porridge, transforming vanilla porridge to a rich stew.

Fried Porridge at MK costs Rm30 for a serving suitable for two people. Ingredients are roast pork, slices of white fish and prawns.

To be honest, the dish doesn’t look very appetizing, a homogenous broth served in a clay pot, and looking to all intents and purposes like overcooked, watery oatmeal. It’s smooth, from the way it flows from the ladle, into small serving bowls, revealing small nuggets of meat.

Served and eaten hot, the porridge is thickly smooth, with an even velvety texture that feels almost oily in its smoothness, surely a tribute to MK’s porridge making skills. The porridge is also quite tasty, infused with a deep rich flavour, with morsels of roast pork bursting with salty umami. Prawns and fish slices add to the textural layers of the dish.  Second and third helpings of the porridge are as flavoursome as the first helping, avoiding the taste-fatigue that sometimes plagues tasty food.

With a side of vegetables or other side dish, the fried porridge at MK Porridge makes a strong main dish for a filling meal. I’m quite sensitive to MSG and tellingly, even well after the meal, my MSG sensors failed to tingle, which is a good thing.

Porridge has been around forever as a staple in the Chinese dining room. It’s a comfort when you’re sick, a refuge for leftover rice and just a plain comfort food that speaks of grandma’s cooking when you were small, but when was the last time someone did something quite creative with porridge, like frying it?

Ming Kee Porridge SS2

61, Jalan SS 2/64, SS 2, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor