The Best Way to Cook Chicken Porridge with Lotus Seeds and Mung Beans
Chicken porridge is a nutritious and delicious dish, beneficial for health, especially for children, the elderly, and those recovering from illness or fatigue. Join Cookbeo in learning how to make chicken porridge with lotus seeds and mung beans in the article below.
Cooking chicken porridge isn't difficult, but making it smooth, flavorful, and aromatic requires some skill. You can cook plain chicken porridge (just with chicken) or enhance it with additional ingredients like lotus seeds, mung beans, or mushrooms to make the dish more flavorful.
Ingredients
- 400g free-range chicken
- 200g broken rice (plain rice)
- 50g broken glutinous rice
- 20g lotus seeds
- 15g mung beans
- 40g fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 carrot
- Shallots
- Ginger
- Spring onions (if available)
- Scallions
- Cilantro
- Fish sauce
- MSG
- Seasoning powder
- Ground pepper
Ingredient Notes
Broken rice is rice that has been pounded into small pieces, making the porridge smoother and tastier. If you want to save time, you can use regular glutinous and plain rice. Usually, the ratio of glutinous rice to plain rice is 1:3 or 1:4 to achieve a moderately thick porridge.
Chicken porridge will be more fragrant if you include “hành tăm” (wild garlic). In this recipe, Cookbeo uses half shallots and half wild garlic.
Instructions
Prepare the Ingredients
Rinse the glutinous rice, mung beans, and lotus seeds, then soak them in water for about 30 minutes.
Remove the stems from the fresh mushrooms, rinse them, and soak in salted water to remove any sap and toxins. After 10 minutes, drain, rinse again, and chop finely.
Peel and julienne the carrot, then dice it into small cubes.
Peel and finely chop the shallots.
Peel the ginger, rinse it, and slice thinly.
Rinse and chop the wild garlic finely.
Trim the roots off the scallions, rinse, and chop them finely.
Prepare the Chicken
Rinse the chicken under water, then rub it with coarse salt and some ginger wine to remove any odor and clean the chicken thoroughly. If ginger wine is unavailable, you can use lemon juice instead. Rinse the chicken again thoroughly.
Boil the Chicken
Place the chicken in a pot, add enough water to cover the chicken, and add the sliced ginger. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil.
Once the water boils, reduce the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and let it cool, then shred the meat. Return the chicken bones to the pot to continue simmering, extracting a rich broth for the porridge.
When shredding the chicken, if you want to make the dish more visually appealing, you can reserve some chicken pieces and slice them into thick slices about 1 cm wide for garnishing later.
Stir-Fry the Ingredients
Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a pan, then sauté the chopped shallots and wild garlic until fragrant. Add the carrots and stir-fry over low heat, covering the pan to allow the carrots to soften.
Once the carrots are tender, add the mushrooms and stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes, then add the shredded chicken. Season with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 1 teaspoon of MSG, and stir well to allow the chicken to absorb the flavors.
Stir-fry this mixture for another 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.
Cook the Chicken Porridge
Rinse the soaked glutinous rice, mung beans, and lotus seeds, then add them to the pot of chicken broth from the previous step.
Cover the pot and bring it to a simmer, cooking until the glutinous rice and mung beans are soft and the lotus seeds are tender. Then, add the broken rice to continue cooking the porridge.
Be sure to stir the rice continuously when adding it to prevent clumping due to the hot broth.
In terms of water, for about 250g of rice, use around 3.5 liters of water. Adjust the water level to your preference if you like a thinner or thicker porridge.
To prevent the porridge from sticking to the bottom of the pot, stir frequently and keep the heat low, just enough to maintain a gentle simmer.
Season to taste with fish sauce, seasoning powder, and a little MSG. Stir well to ensure the porridge absorbs the seasoning.
You can garnish with some of the reserved chicken slices, sprinkle with ground pepper, add a few crispy chicken thigh croutons, and enjoy.
Final Product Requirements
Chicken porridge with lotus seeds, mushrooms, and carrots has a beautiful color palette: white porridge, golden chicken, orange carrots, brown mushrooms, and green scallions. The porridge is smooth and soft, with tender lotus seeds and mung beans, and the glutinous rice gives it a perfect consistency.
With just a few simple steps, you can prepare a delicious and nutritious chicken porridge for your family to enjoy. The cost of this chicken porridge is around 120,000 VND, which is reasonable for a family meal for four. Plus, making it yourself ensures cleanliness and adds to the enjoyment of the meal.
Good luck and enjoy your meal!
