This gently spiced turmeric rice porridge recipe with fried eggs in chilli oil makes comforting bowls of Southeast Asian inspired congee, brimming with flavour and texture, thanks to an array of garnishes, including fresh fragrant herbs such as coriander and dill, spring onions, crunchy pan-roasted peanuts, sliced green chillies, crispy shallots, and a sprinkle of chilli flakes.
My spiced turmeric rice porridge recipe with eggs fried in chilli oil will make you four comforting bowls of Southeast Asian inspired congee, or two more generously sized bowls if you’re really hungry – or hungover! – just don’t plan on doing much afterwards. This is so filling.
It is also brimming with flavour and texture, courtesy of an array of garnishes, including fresh aromatic herbs such as coriander and dill, along with zingy spring onions, crunchy pan-roasted peanuts, sliced green chillies, crispy fried shallots, and a kick of heat from the chilli flakes.
Plus, turmeric has plenty of health-giving properties, if you’re in need of a mental health boost. Turmeric contains curcumin, an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties that can help relieve depression and anxiety. Used in traditional medicine in Asia for thousands of years, turmeric is a key ingredient in Southeast Asian spice pastes, soups, stews, and curries.
You’ll find our recipes with turmeric here. Our turmeric rice porridge recipe with fried eggs in chilli oil is our latest recipe in our Weekend Eggs series of quintessential eggs dishes from around the world, but before I tell you more about this recipe, I have a favour to ask.
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Now let me tell you about this turmeric rice porridge recipe with fried eggs in chilli oil.
Turmeric Rice Porridge Recipe with Fried Eggs in Chilli Oil with Fragrant Herbs and Crunchy Shallots
As regular readers know from my Make Rice Not War project, I’m a rice-lover and a huge fan of rice soups and rice porridges or congees as they’re called in China and borbors here in Cambodia, as the many rice recipes on our site attest.
We’ve got everything from traditional recipes for Cambodian chicken rice porridge, rice soup with pork meatballs and vegetable congee to Christine Manfield’s pork and crab congee with XO sauce, and my East-West experiment, a bacon and eggs breakfast congee recipe.
So naturally, when we have leftovers to use up, I’m most likely to concoct a rice porridge, while Terence is more inclined to experiment with fried rice recipes. Although there was that time I created this Massaman curry fried rice recipe, which is one of my favourite all-time rice dishes.
And so it was that I found myself experimenting with some leftover Burmese coconut rice and Indian-style Burmese chicken curry, along with wilted herbs, chillies and shallots we had tucked away in plastic containers in the fridge.
Fried rice was invented to use up day-old rice and here in Cambodia, where nothing goes to waste in home kitchens, leftover steamed rice is often used to make rice porridge or rice soup – the only difference being consistency: rice porridge is thicker and rice soup thinner.
My turmeric rice porridge recipe with fried eggs in chilli oil could also be served as a lighter rice soup if you prefer or the heartier turmeric rice congee that I’m sharing here. While I think eggs fried in chilli oil, with soft runny yolks, are perfect with this dish, you could also opt for poached eggs or soft-boiled eggs and simply drizzle the chilli oil on top.
Just a few tips to making this turmeric rice porridge recipe with fried eggs in chilli oil.
Tips to Making this Turmeric Rice Porridge Recipe with Fried Eggs in Chilli Oil with Fragrant Herbs
I only have a few quick tips on making this turmeric rice porridge recipe with fried eggs in chilli oil. While my turmeric congee recipe was created to use up leftover rice, you could steam the rice from scratch in a rice cooker, which is the fastest way to make this rice porridge, or cook the rice in the pot, which is the traditional method for making congee and rice porridge.
As I used 100 ml of coconut milk, as per the original coconut rice recipe (the leftovers of which inspired this dish) and it tasted fab, I’ve included the same in this recipe. It results in a rich rice porridge, however, you could leave out the coconut milk if you’re counting calories or simply prefer a lighter congee.
Traditionally, a rice porridge simmered on the stove for hours, but that’s not necessary when you’re using leftover steamed rice.
I’ve used quintessentially Southeast Asian spices, such as turmeric and ginger, but you could experiment: a little dried cardamom would work, as would ground coriander if you don’t have fresh coriander. I use cloves in the Burmese coconut rice, and they would work too, but I recommend pulling them out before serving the rice porridge, so they don’t accidentally get swallowed!
You might also note a small mound of pulled chicken pieces atop the turmeric rice porridge, above; it was our leftover Indian-style Burmese curried chicken. I’ve not included chicken in this recipe, as I wanted to offer a vegetarian option, however, this is a very versatile recipe.
You could certainly use any leftover protein you have, or fry up some bacon, pork or Chinese sausage. Or not, as there’s loads of flavour thanks to the spices and toppings.
I’ve been frying eggs in homemade chilli oil recently and just love them. I use Terence’s adorable mini fry pan and do one egg at a time. They’re super fast, but feel free to use a large fry pan or skillet and use egg rings.
This will make you four small-to-medium sized bowls, which is really plenty, as it’s so filling – or two big bowls or rice porridge if you’re very hungry or very hungover!
If you’re making this for guests, provide additional garnishes in small dishes and a selection of condiments such as homemade Sriracha or other chilli sauces, fish sauce, light soy sauce etc as it’s loads of fun to customise your own rice porridge, which is how congee is traditionally eaten. Enjoy!
Turmeric Rice Porridge Recipe with Fried Eggs in Chilli Oil with Fragrant Herbs
Ingredients
- 2 cups steamed jasmine rice
- 100 ml coconut milk
- 900 ml boiling water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 knob of fresh ginger grated
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- peanuts pan-roasted
- ¼ tsp curry powder
- 2 tbsp chilli oil
- 4 eggs fried
- 1 small purple shallot finely sliced, optional
- 1 long green chilli sliced, deseeded
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp fresh dill sprigs
- 2 fresh scallions/spring onions finely sliced
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp crispy fried shallots
- Additional dishes of garnishes for the table
Instructions
- To a large saucepan, add the leftover steamed jasmine rice, 100 ml of coconut milk, 400 ml boiled water, one teaspoon sea salt, half teaspoon white pepper, one teaspoon ground turmeric, grated fresh ginger, a quarter of a teaspoon of ground cumin, a cinnamon stick, and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes, stir well to combine, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- When the rice porridge is bubbling and spluttering, reduce heat to low, add another 400ml of boiled water, stir, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Prep the garnishes: start with pan-roasting the peanuts by frying them in a dry pan with ¼ tsp curry powder (when they start to pop they are ready) then set aside; and combine the fresh fragrant coriander leaves, fresh dill sprigs and spring onion/scallion slices (and any other fresh herbs of your liking).
- Try the rice porridge – if it’s too thick for you, add more boiling water, and turn to high heat to bring to boil; do not leave to simmer as it will continue to thicken – and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
- Distribute between four small-to-medium sized bowls – or two big bowls if you’re hungry or hungover!
- Fry the eggs in chilli oil just until the yolks are soft (or to your liking), then slide an egg on top of the rice porridge in each bowl, drizzle with the red chilli oil from the pan, arrange the garnishes beside the eggs, and sprinkle chilli flakes and crispy shallots over the eggs and congee.
- Serve immediately with additional garnishes in small dishes and a selection of condiments such as chilli sauces, fish sauce, light soy sauce etc. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Do let us know if you make our turmeric rice porridge recipe in the comments below, as we’d love to hear how it turns out for you.
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