Congee with Century eggs

Back home, we call this dish "goto" . To differentiate it with lugaw, the meat included consists of pork stomach, while lugaw could have chicken or pork meat, or seafoods, like Manila clams.

To start, you have to buy the pork stomach. I usually buy 2 pieces. Open it up and clean thoroughly with salt to remove the slimy stuff. Cut each piece into two and transfer into a big pot of water and bring it to a boil. I usually thow out the water after the first boil. this way you can avoid the foul smell when it starts cooking. Start with cold water again and boil until soft. Make sure the meat is not too soft maybe around 15 or 20 min. Drain and cool. Cut into bite size pieces.
To cook the lugaw, you need the following:
1 thumb size ginger cut into thin slices.
3-4 big garlic cloves, crushed (see note)
1 big onion, sliced
3-4 cups rice (regular rice we eat), washed
patis, pepper
Century eggs, hard boiled for 15 min. Cut into pieces.

Saute the ginger first in 3 tbsp oil. Then add the garlic, brown and then add the onions. When the onion is transparent, add the rice to the pot. Add patis this time to the rice mixture. Wait for a minute until the rice absorbs the patis. Then add 3 cups of water and 1 pc chicken bullion. Cover and lower temp once it boils. Check after 10 min to see that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pot and add water as needed. Add the cut up pork stomach. You can always add water if it dries up every now and then until you can see the rice consistency looks like lugaw. Make sure your temp is low to medium low. You can add the century egg when it's done. You can also add the "kasugba"( similar to saffron) available atPilipino stores to add color when ready to serve.

Serve with scallion, fried garlic and patis with calamansi. Sarap....

Note:
I would peel the whole garlic head, crush and fry in half cup cooking oil. Fry the garlic until golden brown. Don't burn the garlic otherwise it will be bitter. Drain and set aside the fried garlic to use for topping the lugaw and set aside the rest of the oil for use later. The garlic infused oil is really good when I cook my pasta.

Alternative: If you feel lazy to fry your own garlic, most Oriental or Pilipino stores sell the fried garlic. I cook my own garlic because I like the garlic infused oil for cooking later.