Asian Rice Porridge & Vegemite – A Suggestion For The Mouse’ New Favourite Condiment
I mentioned Mouse in yesterday’s post. The Mouse is my blogger friend living in Hawaii. He has a great food blog which details his food adventures. I remember him saying that Vegemite is his new fav condiment and I hope it still is because this post is dedicated to him and his new found love – Vegemite!
Vegemite is a dark brown Australian food paste made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives developed by Cyril P. Callister in Melbourne, Victoria in 1922.
Vegemite is salty, slightly bitter and malty, and rich in umami – similar to beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and the product is a paste. – Info credit: Wikipedia
This must be the simplest recipe I (or anyone) ever blogged 😉
A bowl of Chinese style Rice Porridge.
You may have plain porridge or add boiled cocktail sausages when the rice porridge is cooked.
Mix in vegemite (amount up to you) until you reach the desired taste.
Vegemite is salty so add a little at a time and taste taste taste!
If you accidentally put in too much vegemite, you may dilute the porridge with some hot water but you’ll end up with a more fluid gruel, that’s all.
We like it that way sometimes, especially on a hot day.
Rice Porridge’s texture is in between Rice and Congee. I would recommend cooking rice porridge using the method for cooking rice and adding more water to the recipe. You may use an electric rice cooker with porridge function – leave lid open in this case or follow the manufacturer’s instruction.
Now, I also remember The Mouse saying that he “live for no recipe cooking” in his About Page so I hope the following does not constitute recipe.
Porridge Recipe and Cooking Method Making Suggestion:
One cup long grain or Jasmine rice (washed and drain dry) to 6 cups of water.
Put everything in a pot over the stove, bring to the boil on high heat.
Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer without lid.
Stir ocassionally to prevent rice sticking to bottom of pot.
Add more water during the cooking process if necessary until you get the consistency you see in the photos above.
Once the ends of the rice grain are broken/split and the rice turns opaque, taste to test for done-ness. It should not be al dente like risotto but really soft!
Add boiled sausages if using (you may add sausages at the last few minutes before porridge is done).
Add vegemite according to taste whilst the porridge is hot.
Enjoy!
Check out The Mouse’ blog by clicking here.
Until the Mad Cow Disease or Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), my family swore by Bovril (beef bouillon paste from UK). The BSE crisis led to the European Union banning exports of British beef with effect from March 1996. Vegemite became a favourite after we moved to Melbourne and has today remained on the shelf of our pantry.
My mom used to stir Bovril into a cup of hot water for us to drink when we were younguns. Some people stir Bovril into their coffee, now that’s a bit too much! Ahahaha…
Happy experimenting 🙂
The Bonding Tool 
I have heard a little of this Vegemite………hmmm. I am mre familiar with Vitameatavegamin – http://youtu.be/A3w4ps14_IU For your enjoyment 😀
Hahaha, wine is only 14%. I need Vitameatavegamin 😀
Thanks Cate! 😀
Happy weekend.
Sam what is the taste like? it sounds interesting 🙂
Hi Pat, Wiki described it well “Vegemite is salty, slightly bitter and malty, and rich in umami – similar to beef bouillon.” My opinion on Vegemite is like that of Wiki and to add to it, like vege broth with dark soy. 😀
good enough for me, i like soy sauce…
Haha, my mum used to mske this for us! Except we used Marmite instead, which is the NZ equivalent.
I heard the NZ version of Marmite is slightly sweeter than the UK version. I just saw the Bovril (Beef) in Malaysia this trip. Very tempted to buy, lol… But my bags were filled with heavy eqipments so I didn’t get it (guess we sort of wean off Bovril now)
My daughter love it but I don’t fancy it. She studied in Australia lah.
Yea, Vegemite is very Aussie 😀
i dunno dude, i eat a lot of shit, but not really sure if I can handle vegemite. I have a feeling I either lot it a lot or it might make me puke!
Bovril used to be beefy good for children, I don’t know… Lol, yes Mo, I think you’ll either love this or hate this but I think the taste can be easily acquired if one got bored with light soy (which was what we had with plain porridge on lean days).
Reblogged this on Live2EatEat2Live Blog and commented:
Wow! A post for me? I feel special! 🙂
Haha, Mouse, YOU are special! You are the only “rodent” I like, kekeke…
Vegemite is an acquired taste. I’m a happy Vegemite kid, as bright as can be! I like it on toast with butter! 😃
Vegemite on toast and butter is so Aussie breakfast 😀 We eat it like that too.
We used to have Bovril too and switched; but, we are all vegan now.
I like the idea of porridge and vegemite.
I hope you like the taste, haha… 😀
lol…mine too!
😉
I never would have thought about this combo!!! Sounds like savory heaven to me!!! Good one! I loooove vegemite + marmite!
Hi Shelli,
Hope you’ll like it if you try it 😀
I once gave a travelling Swede vegemite (my mother had sent it to me). He spat it out – thought I was trying to poison him. In fact the traditional way to eat vegemite is on soft toast with a lot of butter, and then spread thinly.
Yes, that traditional way you described was our brekkie in Aussie 😀 But I still prefer it in my porridge 😉
Maybe if I put vegemite in my porridge I could get a perfect complexion like yours, instead of what I have at the moment, which scares baddies and animals alike 😉
i don’t have perfect skin. perhaps you need glasses, lol…