Fried Eggs with Preserved Turnip (菜圃蛋)
eochew Porridge Series (潮州粥): Preserved Turnip with Eggs (菜圃蛋)
It’s hard to believe but this time of year, it does get rather cold even here in sunny Southern California. When it is chilly, I love foods that keep me warm—hot pots, soups, or clay pot dishes. I need the extra warmth to get me via the winter blues…I am a tropical island kind of girl.
The recent guest post of Teochew Lo Ack inspired me—Teochew porridge and its scrumptious side dishes may properly be the ideal remedy for me…
Porridge (粥/稀饭) can be a popular Chinese mainstay. Known also as congee or “jook” (Cantonese pronunciation), porridge is consumed all more than China, Southeast Asia, and wherever Chinese are. My late parents were particularly partial to porridge and I remember vividly my childhood days when my father would take my mother and I to Teochew porridge restaurants in Georgetown, Penang. There was one that we would always go back to—an unassuming late night porridge joint that served only porridge and well over 20 side dishes to choose from. My father would slurp bowl after bowl of plain rice porridge with dishes including fried eggs with preserved turnip (菜圃蛋), soy sauce eggs (滷蛋), Teochew stewed fish (our favorite!), braised bean curd, preserved vegetable with pork belly (梅菜), salted duck eggs (咸鸭蛋), and the sharp smelling fermented bean curd (腐乳)—humble and modest dishes that pair so flawlessly well with porridge.
