Sunday, January 27, 2008

Congee for the Soul

When I find myself eating veggie corndogs and tater tots of my own accord because it's the only thing I can manage, I know things are bad.

I have been sick since Thursday, and it is now Sunday. This is not cool! I have to work tomorrow, as well as get my car registration renewed, things I am not looking forward to!

I have been sleeping copious amounts, drinking absurd amounts of fluids (not so fun when you are already pregnant and having to pee a ton anyway!), and ingesting tons of vitamin C and other good for you items. I still have the funk, and now it is residing in my chest. blech.

Tonight I really want Congee, so my plan is to feel well enough in a few hours to at least boil the damn chicken. My husband can be instructed on the rest when he gets home from work, but I know he won't be able to debone the chicken... (a story for another time)

My Version of Congee:
One whole chicken
tons of garlic cloves (6?)
tons of fresh ginger (1.5"?)

Boil chicken in water to cover with large chunks of ginger and slices of garlic.
When chicken is done, remove from broth and set chicken aside to cool.
You can strain the broth if you feel the need, but I don't.

Simmer broth and add a bit of light soy sauce, a little rice vinegar, a few dashes of sesame oil.
Add a cup to a cup and a half of long grain rice or jasmine rice. Simmer until the rice is cooked and starts to split.
When chicken has cooled, shred meat and add back to soup, discard skin and bones.
Add more soy sauce (I usually add dark soy sauce at the end), rice vinegar, sesame oil, etc, to taste.

Take a few more inches of fresh ginger root, another 6? or more cloves of garlic, a bunch of green onions. Chop these all up to fairly small peices. Coat in corn starch and kosher salt, fry in a small amount of canola oil until browned and crispy. Drain.
Serve soup with a handful of this in each bowl with a a small amount of chopped cilantro.
Serve soup with Rooster sauce (Sriracha).

The rice thickens up the soup, so you can end up with a more porridge like consistency. I love this stuff. I usually make mine a little thinner than a porridge, but you can add more rice to make it thicker.

Here is the Wiki on Congee.

No comments: