Cháo huyết is rice porridge with cubes of pork blood, a popular dish in Saigon. The rice is toasted, then cooked in a pork-bone and daikon broth, and each bowl is topped with sliced pork offal, ginger and spring onion. It’s a bowl for cold days, and the original author’s favourite way to eat it is with quẩy, the Chinese fried dough sticks. Ingredients For the broth 1 kg pork bones 10 g dried shrimp, soaked in water for about 10 minutes and rinsed 1 white radish (daikon) Salt For the porridge ½ bowl rice ¼ bowl sticky rice 1 bowl pork blood 1 small branch of ginger For the toppings (buy whichever you like) 1 pork tongue 1 pork liver ½ pork heart 100 g pork stomach Vinegar and salt, for cleaning To serve Spring onion, bean sprouts, lime, chilli Pepper Quẩy (Chinese fried dough sticks) How to make cháo huyết 1. Make the broth Wash the pork bones carefully in lightly salted water, 2–3 times. Soak them in hot water for about 10 minutes, then rinse again in fresh water. Chop the bones into medium pieces and put them in a pot with the peeled, sliced daikon, the dried shrimp and enough water to cover everything. Cook for 30–45 minutes, skimming off the foam from the surface every so often. 2. Toast the rice Wash the rice and sticky rice well and let them dry. Toast them quickly in a pan for 5–7 minutes. 3. Clean and boil the offal Wash the pork tongue well, then soak it for about 5 minutes in hot water with a little vinegar. Scrape it all over with a knife to remove the dirt, rinse it in fresh water, and boil it until cooked. Wash the heart, stomach and liver 2–3 times in water with a little vinegar and salt, rinse them in fresh water and boil them too. 4. Cook the porridge Strain the broth to catch all the small pieces of bone; they’re dangerous to bite into. Pour the strained broth into a pot with the toasted rice and cook until the rice is soft. 5. Prepare the blood and garnishes Rinse the pork blood, boil it for 5–7 minutes and cut it into small cubes. Wash and slice the spring onion. Peel the ginger and slice it thinly. Wash the bean sprouts and chillies. 6. Finish the porridge Season the porridge, then add the cubed blood and a little of the sliced ginger. Cook for 15 minutes more and turn off the heat. 7. Serve Slice the tongue, stomach, liver and heart and arrange them on a plate. Ladle the porridge into small bowls and lay some of the offal on top. Finish with pepper, sliced ginger and spring onion. Eat it hot, with quẩy, bean sprouts and chilli on the side. Share:
