Congee, or Xi Fan in Chinese, is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries, typically eaten for breakfast. The rice has a watery pudding consistency, and is served with side dishes such as tofu, pork sung, bamboo, spinach, pickled cucumber, eggs (also fermented), radish, sausage, anchovies, bacon, and much more. This meal is fantastic for anyone feeling under the weather as the mixture of the warm watery rice and side dishes become very easy to swallow and easy on the stomach. Also, this is a very quick breakfast to make if you decide to just use left over rice! One of my favorite meals in the early part of the day.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
|
CONGEE
Rice (2 cups) Water (12 cups water) |
SIDE DISHES
Eggs (drizzled with soy sauce) Tofu Bamboo shoots Pickled cucumbers Spinach or other green vegetables Pork Sung |
Directions
Pork Sung on the left. Chili bamboo shoots in the middle. Pickled cucumber on the right. Quick and easy, put them out into side dish bowls.
Tofu is a little more complicated. You must use soft tofu cut into 4 even large cubes. I boil it in water just for a few seconds to basically clean and cook it a bit. Then plate it along with your best soy sauce drizzled on top, Chinese chili garlic sauce, minced garlic, chopped green onions, and a healthy portion of cilantro on top. Tofu should be eaten cold.
Eggs are just scrambled with soysauce. Veggies can be just lightly boiled. I typically do not season the veggies since all the other dishes are salty. All the side dishes should be in the center of the table and each person gets a bowl of congee. Then like family style, you grab what you want and dig in! Didn't have time to make the actual congee so I just used left over rice.
This picture is when my mom made it with actual congee. For the congee itself, boil 2 cups of rice to about 12 cups of water. The more water you add, the more watery congee you get, it all depends on your preference!