Pinto Bean and Corn Grits Porridge
芸豆大碴子粥 (Kidney Bean and Cracked Corn Porridge)
Paired with salted duck eggs and small pickled side dishes, kidney bean and cracked corn porridge was the most iconic traditional farmhouse meal in Northeast China in bygone eras. This authentic local staple was a winter mainstay when fresh produce was scarce, limited almost entirely to cabbage, potatoes, and radishes. Eaten on its own or paired with a salted duck egg or pickled sides, it made for a complete, satisfying meal. Simple as it seems, it grows more delicious with every bite—even recalling it now is enough to make your mouth water.
Ingredients
coarse corn grits
1 bowl
pinto beans
to taste
baking soda
to taste
Instructions
1
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients: Today I'm making regular coarse corn grits; one bowl is enough to feed a family of three for one meal.
2
Step 2
About half a bowl of pinto beans; if you love beans, add more.
3
Step 3
Place all the ingredients into a fairly large container, rinse them thoroughly several times, then transfer to an electric slow cooker.
4
Step 4
Add baking soda — 1 to 2 g is enough; use the smallest measuring spoon from baking, which holds about 2 g when full, and don't overfill it.
5
Step 5
Add enough water; regular coarse corn grits expand a lot when cooked, so use plenty of water — at least three times the volume of the grits.
6
Step 6
Set the electric slow cooker to the multigrain porridge mode and start it; the cycle takes 4.3 hours. So if you're using this pot to cook, plan your time accordingly — it's a slow simmer that never reaches a rolling boil, and the resulting corn grits porridge is especially delicious.
7
Step 7
When the time is up, open the lid. The corn grits are cooked very soft and tender, and the pinto beans have bloomed open — even elders with poor teeth can eat this.
8
Step 8
Serve it up — here's the authentic Northeastern way to enjoy it. These two small side pickles are salted scallion leaves and garlic-flavored cucumber. Salted scallion leaves are Northeasterners' favorite pickle, served as the pressing dish at many small restaurants — crisp, tender, fragrant, and appetizing with rice. It's so delicious that one pot wasn't nearly enough.
