Bubur Tinotuan

Tinotuan porridge  or we called Bubur tinotuan is one of traditional culinary from Manado, Sulawesi Utara. First time i knew this food was from my mother. Her father came from Gorontalo, near to Manado, so this porridge is familiar to us. My mom usually put many vegetables such as kale or kangkung, carrot, corn, pumpkin and tempe into this porridge. We ate this with anchovy sambal, what a great taste. 

Since i got married, i never cooked this. My husband choose chicken porridge rather than tinotuan. He likes vegetables little than me and prefer meat or another protein source. Man typical i think. Until one day, my neighbor's assistant namely "Uwak" gave us a bowl warm tinotuan in a cold rainy weather. Gosh, my family loved and vied with each other to get a spoonful of it. We felt hunger and wanted some more. Only shame that makes me unwilling to ask again, thanks God i still have, lol!

In the morning, i brave my self to ask Uwak for the recipe. There's no doubt for her kindness, she taught me to cook it. It wasn't hard at all. If you had some chicken broth you can use it but if have not, you can use some chicken powder. I cook almost 400 gr of rice with 2 liter of chicken broth or more in low heat. Put two bay leaves and one lemongrass. Give a pinch of salt and taste it according to yours. Ten minutes before cook perfectly, put pieces of vegetables (cube) you want. Me are sweet basil leaves, corn, carrot,  and squash. You can serve it warm with sambal terasi and fried anchovy.

My kids love this porridge a lot and seem never failed their appetite for it.  Once a month i serve tinotuan as a breakfast or dinner. Sometimes Icha brought this as a bento to school. Both Icha and Jaja like vegetables as much as me. They eat any of them except pare, too bitter said them even i squeeze it with salt to reduce it. Okay, so far i proud with that. It wasn't hard to feed them since they was a baby. Some expert said you should introduce puree vegetables or fruits  rather than carbohydrate to your 6 months baby. The taste would adhere to their tongue till they grow up. I believe this. First food i gave to my kids especially Jaja are puree carrot, banana, apple, pumpkin, avocado, and many else. Trust me it works, my kids always eat vegetables and fruits everyday,  without any trouble or any drama queen scene.