Author Archive | Leela

This is a grown-up version of what’s supposed to be my favorite baby food. I was a pretty quiet baby, but my mom used to tell me that whenever she fed me this, I started ‘talking’ a lot. She took it to mean I liked it.

I love this dish as an adult and make it often. The salty garlic shrimp balances out the sweet rice-pumpkin porridge. The pumpkin seeds add some crunch to what would otherwise be a texturally dull mush. Vegans can use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and salt instead of fish sauce and skip the shrimp or replace them with mushrooms.

I can’t say anything about whether you’ll get more talkative after you eat this porridge. But if that happens, perhaps you and I (well, the baby version of me, anyway) have more in common than previously thought. Continue Reading →