Korean Pumpkin Porridge~ Hobak-juk 호박죽

I often made Hobak-juk for hubby when he catch a cold. Just like the Chinese, Koreans often look for hot soup with rice or porridge to warm up their body when they are not well. Earlier I did not think of sharing this recipe in blog as I revised the recipe a little it to suit my taste and shorter the cooking process. I always thought that my recipe is not authentic, I better not share it here. However, to my surprise, last month when I watch my favourite show 집밥 백선생 2 - Ep.30 - where Baek Song Seng shared his version of making Hobak-juk using cooked rice, which is similar to mine! Then I start to think, oh~ there is nothing wrong with my recipe even though I modify it, so I am sharing it here now.

Hobak-juk is Korean pumpkin porridge made with steamed pumpkin / squash and glutinous rice or sweet rice flour. Traditionally, glutinous rice has be pre-soak overnight and blend into puree and added into pumpkin paste and make it juk. For some reason, I don't like to eat hobak-juk selling in Korea because I dislike the taste of sweet rice flour in Hobak-juk. So one day I try to replaced it with cooked rice, a Jasmine rice that we normally eat at home. Turns out the Hobak-juk taste better - hubby also agreed on this and most importantly it suit my taste. From there onwards I never use glutinous rice anymore.

 

Ingredient (2 Servings):

Pumpkin - 350gm

Uncook rice - 1/4 cup

4 cups of water

A pinch of salt

Brown Sugar - 1/2 Tablespoon

How to Cook:

Step 1. 

Get a pumpkin weight around 350gm. I am using organic Japanese pumpkin here. It can be squash or butternut squash depending on what's available according to the season. Peel off the skin, use a spoon to scrap off the fibers, then cut it into thin slice. 

Step 2.

In a pot, add the pumpkin slices, 1/4 cup of uncooked fragrant rice, and 4 cups of water, bring to boil on high heat. When it starts boiling, reduce to medium heat and continue to boil the pumpkin slices and rice until pumpkin slices turn soft and rice is cooked. Usually it takes about 15-20 minutes. Pork the flesh of the pumpkins to see if it's tender.

Alternatively, if you already have cooked rice, just boiled the pumpkin slices until it begin to turn soft, add in half bowl of cooked rice and cook for another 5 minutes until the pumpkin water become starcy or mushy.

 

Step 3.

Off the fire and let it sit for a while to cool down before puree it in a food processor or blender. In my case my blender is made of glass, I can blend it without having to wait for it to cool down.

Step 4. 
Remove the puree from blender and transfer it to the pot again. Cook the puree on medium heat for 4-5 min until it gets thicken. Remember to keep stirring during the cooking to avoid the pumpkin puree get burn at the bottom of the inner pot.

Step 5.

Lastly, add in a pinch of salt and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar (adjust according to your taste), cook for another 1 minute and it is done. Usually salt will bring out the sweetness of pumpkin, I would avoid adding brown sugar if it is taste sweet enough for me. Garnish it with chopped walnut or pine nuts and serve warm.