My mum's prawn porridge is only for special occasions. I thought of it for my brother's birthday, because he likes it. It took a bit of planning to get all the ingredients. The vegetables, the chicken and the prawns had to be very fresh. Good ingredients are essential for this dish.
My mum and I went shopping on Friday for the chicken and the vegetables. We needed a whole chicken, chicken bones, daikon and coriander roots for the broth. We needed spring onions and Chinese celery for the toppings. My mum is very particular about garlic oil. She minces fresh garlic and fries it in oil to make garlic oil. Garlic oil is a condiment that adds fragrance to the broth.
We went to a specialty supermarket on Saturday for the prawns and the squid. You can tell the freshness of the prawns from their eyes. We waited for the afternoon delivery to arrive. The prawns were fresh and they were reasonably priced. We could afford to be generous with our servings of prawns.
My mum was up at the crack of dawn on Sunday. She started boiling the chicken and daikon early. She peeled the prawns and washed them with salt. She boiled the shells to make another broth. My job was to squeeze lime and chop vegetables for the prawn porridge. My mum made an omelette to add to as a topping to the porridge. The essential condiments for a good prawn porridge are fish sauce, garlic oil and lime juice.
Chicken, daikon, coriander roots
Prawn shells
Prawns, omelette, garlic oil, etc
I made spicy Thai meat salad called laab. The spicy minced meat is wrapped in lettuce and eaten as an appetizer.
Spicy minced pork and chicken for laab salad wrap
Pumpkin sticks in coconut milk dessert
I made pumpkin sticks in coconut milk and coconut palm sugar for dessert. (It wasn't perfect because I added too much salt.) We also had fried bananas and watermelon for dessert.
We were only cooking for four, but it was a lot of work. All the effort to serve a special birthday meal was worth it. What's more, we had a lot of fun, which is what birthday celebrations are all about.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 8 July 2024
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