Chicken porridge with water chestnut

In wiki, water chestnut is called Eleocharis dulcis. How many people in the world will know this?!!!

I have a love hate relationship with water chestnut.

I have some water chestnut leftover from making dumplings. This is the reason why i will buy water chestnut 99% of the time. Preparing water chestnut is a hassle! u will have to scrub the mud off the skin, wash until the water runs clean, cut off the skin before u can use the inner flesh. Of cos, if u are throwing the skin, u need not wash them to cleanly. Having said that, u will still have to rinse them thoroughly. I am not being fussy here but if there is mud on the skin, when u slice it, the white flesh will be contaminated cos the knife comes into contact with the mud. Hate it.

If you have the time to clean the skin, boil the skin in a huge pot of water with barley for a couple of hours, add sugar and u will have a big pot of barley water chestnut drink!

I will usually have leftover water chestnuts as a snack/fruit. When i saw them in the fridge one afternoon, i decided to chop them up coarsely and add them to my porridge to add a 'crunch' to the mushy porridge. Reason why i love water chestnut is that it retains its sweetness, juiciness and crunch even after cooking. Love it.