Chicken Porridge

What a month! #2 is going through a phase of rejecting food. What she use to love is pushed away. Oh she does the cutest "hands block mouth! shake head!" move when she does not want to eat or is full. If you try to make her eat, left hand will swing n push your spoon to the floor. What a cutie!

I've been cycling through all her previous favourites in different textures but nope, she has decided "I'm done. Find something else to entertain me with." So it's a month of creating and experimenting new menus. And finally, oh finally, found something that she totally loves. Good bye Pork! Good bye Beef! Good Bye Fish! It's Chicken time!

Chicken. I had wanted to give her chicken or chicken stock since she was 7 months old but was stopped by my mother. Her reasons was chicken are often injected with hormones and antibiotics that are bad for the baby. Then my neighours introduced me to Sakura Chicken, supposedly grown without growth hormones or antibiotics. I can't find such statements on the manufacturer website. What I found are other sites and blogs that says it is so. Until I can find a better chook within my budget, sakura chicken will be used in the chicken recipes for #2. So here it is, chicken porridge recipes #2 loves.

Chicken Porridge - Chicken Breast (Makes 2 servings for a small eater)
100g chicken breast
1/4 cup uncooked rice
salt
suger
water
Vegetable of your choice

Wash rice and place it in a non-plastic bowl. Measure 1/2 cup water and remove 2 tablespoon of water. Pour the water into the bowl of rice. Put into the steamer and steam for 20mins

Remove any visible fats from chicken. Rinse chicken in a bowl with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Remove and place in non-plastic bowl/plate with 2 tablespoon of water. Steam for 12mins.

Steam vegetable of your choice. Root vegetables - 15-20mins. Leaf of green vegetables - 3-5mins.

Strain the juice from the steamed chicken into the bowl of rice and continue steaming for 15mins.
Finely chop half of chicken breast and mix into rice when it is done. Add vegetables. Serve.


Chicken Porridge - Chicken Thigh and Wolfberries (Makes 2 servings for a small eater)
100g chicken thigh meat cut into 1 inch
1/4 cup uncooked rice
8 wolfberries rinsed
soy sauce
salt
suger
water
Vegetable of your choice

Prepare rice as per recipe above.

Remove any visible fats from chicken. Rinse chicken in a bowl with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Rinse again with water. Remove and place in non-plastic bowl/plate with 2 tablespoon of water, 5 drops of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar and wolfberries. Steam for 20mins.

Strain the juice from the steamed chicken into the bowl of rice and continue steaming for 15mins.
Finely chop half of chicken thigh and mix into rice when it is done. Add vegetables. Serve.

Apple Pork Soup for baby & preschooler

As #2 moves into stage 2 of weaning, I start to find myself exploring recipes that is suitable for both a baby and a pre-schooler. Time is a constraint as #2 transforms from a sleep all day baby to a nap for 30 minutes super light sleeper. To add to the challenge, #1 is a very picky eater who insists on eating the same thing everyday.

Today, I've decided to try out noobcook's recipe Apple Pork Rib Soup with some tweaks of my own to make it baby friendly. The original recipe is found here: http://www.noobcook.com/apple-soup/.

Here's my version of Apple Pork Soup for baby & preschooler.

Ingredients
300g pork for soup - I used 龙肉 aka 龙骨. A wet market vendor will know what this is.
3 red organic apples
1 onion
1.2 liters of water

Method
Thermos Thermal Cooker

Time
10 mins prep, 6 hours total. Time away from baby - 15 mins.

Quarter and removed the core of 3 apples. Quarter and remove outer layer of the onion. Bleach pork in hot water and set aside. Place all ingredients and water into the thermal cooker's inner pot. Bring to a boil for 10mins then lower the fire to a small boil for another 20mins. Remove from heat and place pot into thermal cooker and wait for 5-6hours. Before serving, bring to a boil for 10mins.

I would do this at night after the kids are asleep and the soup will be ready in the early morning for me to convert it onto what the menu was for the day or served as-is with a pinch of salt for #1.

The result was 2 happy kids who wolfed down their lunch and a very satisfied mummy.

Basic Pork Stock

#2 loves her porridge and she likes it made with fresh stock. So I've been exploring how I can provide her with what she likes yet still not be a slave to the stove.

The very first stock made for her is pork stock. It's super simple with 2 ingredients and can be done in many ways.

Here's my Simple Pork Stock for baby's porridge.

Ingredients
150g pork - I used 腰肉 or 肉头
water

Bleach pork in water. Set pork aside. Now choose the method of cooking and it's done!

Method - Boil over stove. Time away from baby - 20-30mins.
Place meat and 800ml water into a pot and boil for 40-50mins. During cooking, check the water level and add water if too much water has evaporated.

Method - Slow Cooker. Time away from baby - 3mins.
Place meat and 500ml hot boiling water into slow cooker. Set on high for 3-4hrs or on auto over night.

Method - Thermal Cooker. Time away from baby - 5mins
Place meat and 800ml water into a inner pot and boil for 15mins. Place in thermal pot and it will be ready in 4-6hours. Bring to a boil before using.

Each method I tried yielded stock that are slightly different in taste. In short, the longer the stock is over the stove, the more intense the flavour is, the yummier the porridge will be. This also translate to longer time away from the baby, higher chances of burning the pot because I fell asleep nursing #2 and too much risk when number #1 is at home jumping around.

Thus, my preferred method of cooking stock is my trusty thermal cooker. I would cook the stock at night after the kids are asleep and bring it to a 2nd boil either before I sleep or in the morning before cooking the porridge. This would yield a favourful stock that will rival the one cooked 1 hour over the stove.

There are lots of other stuff that can be added to the basic stock and turn it into a yummy soup for baby. So far I've only used food that has already been tasted and confirmed as non allergen for #2. She been loving my experiments and that makes me happy.

Ngor He and Heng Chye Porridge

My parents have been very excited about feeding #2. My dad, especially, have a good track record in getting #1 and #2 to eat when others have failed. One of the staples for chinese babies in my generation and my children's generation is Ngor He and Heng Chye. In english, Ngor He is threadfin and Heng Chye is spinach. My dad would buy Balai Ngor He and baby Heng Chye. My mum will cook porridge for #2. #2 loves this porridge since she was 6 months old.

Here it is, My Dad n Mom's Ngor He and Heng Chye Porridge

1 spoonful of rice

hot water enough to cover up to 1 inch above the rice

2 fifty cent sized ngor he without skin n bones

8 leaves heng chye

sesame oil

salt

Cook rice with hot water in mini slow cooker for 4 hours.

Chop heng chye very very finely.

Season fish with 1 dab of sesame oil and 1/2 dab of salt

When porridge is done, add heng chye. Cover and cook for 20-30mins.

While this is happening, steam Ngor He til it is cook. This will take 5-10mins depending on the size and thickness of fish. Finely chop the Ngor He.

Add Ngor He to porridge, Mix, dish and serve.

Serves: 1 Baby for lunch and dinner

Time: 4.5hrs cooking, 30mins for preparation.