Rice Porridge with Pork

โจ้ก johk

People often ask me what I eat for breakfast and whether it is the same as Thai people. For myself, I cannot eat anything spicy for breakfast. It is just too early in the day. I much prefer to eat a breakfast that I grew up on. That is egg and bacon on toast or corn flakes. Also, some marmalade or marmite on toast and a cup of coffee. Maybe a glass of orange juice too. I know some Thai people that just eat whatever was left over from the night before. However, a traditional breakfast dish in Thailand is "johk". This is a thick rice soup with pork. In the above picture you can see that a bowl costs only 20 baht (50 cents) and that it costs an extra 5 baht for an egg.

This rice soup is quite similar to another one called Khao Tom. But, the latter is more of a soup, whereas johk is closer to porridge. The rice is cooked in chicken broth (above left). At this stall, you can see that she has prepared the mince pork already, shaping it into balls and cooking it in boiling water for about five minutes. The rice is poured into a serving bowl and the pork balls added together with some liver and kidney. If you like she will also crack an egg into the soup which ends up being only partly cooked. Shredded ginger (bottom left) is added as garnish.