Pumpkin Porridge

I have never cooked or even eaten pumpkin porridge before. But what prompted me to cook this today is 1 bowl of leftover rice, balance half pot of pork, corn and carrot soup stock, a quarter pumpkin in the fridge (thanks to XX who insisted I buy it at the veg market even though he has no idea what it is) and a curiousity about "南瓜粥" after watching one of the F4 character in the Korean drama "花样男子" eat them.

A quick search on the internet confirmed that "南瓜" is indeed pumpkin. In Korea, they call it "Hobahk Jook" or "Hobakjuk", and they actually use glutinous rice or even glutinous rice flour to cook it. They also blend it to make the texture more velvety and they add sugar! I think it should taste more like a dessert than a main meal cos it must be very sweet and gooey, like those chinese red bean soup dessert.

Anyway, I didn't follow their recipe, perhaps next time since I've still got some more pumpkin. I decided to do it my own style, using up the leftover stock and rice and adding some wolfberries. The result? I didn't know pumpkin can taste so nice. I should have made some pumpkin puree and porridge for my children when they were babies. The pumpkin literally melted into the porridge, making it naturally sweet. The pork and an added teaspoon of salt balances the flavour to make it more savoury. XX seemed to like it, he finished his portion. I quite like it too though sweet porridge is an acquired taste. Hubby, I can tell, he didn't really fancy it.