Tilapia Brown Rice Porridge-Momofuku Inspired

1) Heat up your pot on medium high heat. When it’s hot, put in the bacon and cook till it starts to get a little crispy. Turn bacon over to cook the other side. Don’t worry about crisping them as we will add stock to incorporate the smokey flavor.
2) Transfer bacon grease to a pan, not all, but leave about 1 teaspoon in the pot. Set aside.
3) Into your bacon pot, add seafood stock, chicken stock, soy sauce, pepper, salt and sugar. Bring it to boil while bacon is still in the pot. Simmer it with a lid on for about 15 minutes and let the bacon float around like it’s in a hot tub. Remove bacon. You can save the stock at this stage. Cover it and put it in the fridge. It can be saved for up to 3 days.
4) In the meantime, heat all of the remaining bacon grease. If you don’t have enough, add canola oil. The amount of oil should be enough to pan fry the shallots. Stir once in a while so that the shallots don’t burn. When shallots turn light brown, remove them by using a slotted spoon and put them on a paper towel to drain. They can be saved in a fridge up to a week.
5) Add fish to the stock pot we prepared earlier. Cook fish for about 5 minutes and use a slotted spoon to scoop it out when it’s done. Set aside. You can save it and put it in the fridge.

Cook your brown rice according to package directions – so that you have 4 cups of cooked rice.

Combine your chopped green onions and cilantro; mix them up and store in a container for when you are ready to serve the soup.

How to Put It Together:
1) It tastes better when you finish it the same day, otherwise the rice will soak up all the soup and it doesn’t taste that great.
2) This is what I do: If you think you’re going to make only 2 bowls tonight, pour enough stock for 2 bowls into a medium saucepan. Bring it to boil. Add rice, let it simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on.
3) Add fish, let it continue simmering for another 10 minutes.
4) Add 1 tablespoon of chopped green onion and cilantro from the 1/2 cup we prepared earlier. Turn heat off. Let it sit for a few minutes.
5) Scoop to a bowl and top with 1/2 tablespoon of the fried shallots and another 1 teaspoon of chopped green onion and cilantro for topping.

Note: If you save stock in the fridge, you will see white fat on top. Make sure to scoop that out before reheating the stock. The amount of topping can be adjusted to your preference.