Fish Slice Porridge (鱼片粥)

Ingredients (serve 4)

1. 2 cm section of ginger
2. 1-2 stalk spring onion
3. 400 grams Spanish Mackerel (马交) fish fillet (or Grouper,石斑) (or Snakehead,  Ikan Toman, 生鱼)
4. 1 cup rice
5. 6 bowls water
6. salt
7. fish bone (optinal)
8. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
9. 1 tablespoon soya sauce
10. dash of pepper

Method

1. Wash the fish fillet. Slice the fish fillet into ½ to 1 cm thick slices against the grain.
2. Marinate with soya sauce and sesame oil and set aside.
3. Peel ginger and cut into thin strips <1mm thick.  Wash spring onion and cut thinly.
4. Rinse rice thoroughly, put into pot with 6 bowls water. Bring it to boil and then lower flame till extremely low flame (for my burner, I have to turn the gas knob as if I am turning it off, but just stopping when the flame is about to go off) and let it simmer with cover on for 1 hour,  This make the porridge base very soft (Cantonese style), but if you prefer the porridge to be grainy, then you can stop when the right consistency is obtained.
5. If you have fish bone, make a fish stock by boiling 1 bowl water with the bones for 30 mins with low flame.  (the purpose of cooking this separately instead of putting the bones into the porridge is that there might be small bone dislodge and get mixed with the porridge).  When done, sieve and mixed into the porridge.
6. When the porridge done, add salt to taste.
7. While the porridge is boiling, pour in the fish, stir and allow to boil for 1 min, turn off flame and cover for another 10 mins.
8. Serve hot in bowl, with ginger strips and cut spring onion. Optional, dash of pepper, soya sauce and sesame oil.

You can also serve with cut you tiao 油条, or century egg 皮蛋