Kiam Pung

This is a recipe our grandmothers used to make. I rediscovered my love for this dish when my 83-year old neighbor would send over some during mahjong nights. She would prepare this for all her friends who would spend all day at her house playing mahjong. She taught me how to make this. It took a while for me to master this dish as she cooks without measurements!

Kiam Pung literally translates to salty rice. It’s like a Chinese version of Paella. I love how this reminds me of when I was a little girl and we would all eat this together as a family. This is a dry and less sticky Kiam Pung because that’s the way we like it and I’m not really into mushy rice.

Today, I prepare this for special occasions or when I’m really craving it. Warning: This is not a recipe for the faint hearted. It will use up 2-3 hours of your life and your arm muscles will be put to good use! It can cook faster if you use the pressure cooker to cook the meat. This is the basic recipe, you can add dried scallops, abalone, and whatever else you want to make it fancier.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup to 1 cup of fried peanuts, I like peanuts in every bite so I put in 1 cup

• sliced pechay or bokchoy leaves

• hard boiled eggs (optional)

• 2 cups shallots or small red onions

• 1 cup crushed garlic more or less 3 heads of garlic

• 1/2-3/4 kilo of lean pork belly sliced into 1/2 inch cubes

• 1/2 cup hibi or dried shrimp

• 1/2 cup soy sauce

• 5 cups jasmine rice

• 1/2 cup malagkit rice or sticky rice

• 5 cups of chicken broth

• 1 TBSP of sugar

• 10 pieces of dried mushrooms soaked in hot water and sliced into strips

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1. In a wok, sauté onions using medium heat until soft. Remove and set aside.

2. Using the same pan, sauté garlic.

3. Add in the pork belly, and cook until fragrant.

4. Add in the soy sauce, 1 TBSP SUGAR, mushrooms, water used to soak mushrooms and more water to cover the meat. Cook on low until soft (This is also the part when you add other dried stuff like dried scallops, dried abalone, etc. Make sure to soak them in hot water first).

5. You can add more water if the meat still isn’t soft. Cook until the pork belly is soft and can be cut with a spoon. The sauce should also be dried up.

6. Add in washed rice, and chicken broth. Cover and cook on high until it boils.

7. When it boils, put the heat on low and stir. Cover and stir. Repeat often. This is the part that needs a lot of your muscle power as you need to stir often to make sure that the bottom doesn’t burn and the rice cooks and dries up into the right consistency.

8. Top with pechay/bokchoy leaves, cooked shallots, and peanuts. Cover for 5-10 minutes before serving. The steam from the rice will cook the veggies. Serve family style.

Or fancy looking like this. My husband insists that adding a boiled egg to it makes it more tasty. According to him, everything always tastes better with egg! Enjoy!