rice porridge
Okay you guys, I am back from a spectacular vacation that included a wedding in California and a family trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong. No (publicly noticeable) jet lag, but I am suffering from that warm, fuzzy, wistful feeling that comes with missing the family members and friends who are practically family members I spent time with. Also, I miss the food in Taiwan. This is the first time I’ve come back from vacation completely un-excited to return to my usual way of eating. I thought I’d have wild cravings for a good slice of pizza, a crunchy bowl of my favorite homemade granola, cheese on everything, and maybe Indian and/or Mexican food. Not so much. What (John and) I want more than any of these things is more warm, sweet, freshly made soy milk with egg pancakes and shao bing for breakfast, a cheap bowl of minced pork and stewed eggs with rice for lunch, and a humble serving of rice porridge with an array of small dishes for dinner like I had one evening at a bustling little eatery whose location I’ve forgotten.
Between six people we shared a big pot of plain rice porridge (aka congee, “jook” in Cantonese, or “jou” in Mandarin) and something like 10 small dishes of bite-sized things like three-cup chicken, crispy small fish with boiled peanuts, strips of tofu with bamboo shoots, marinated seaweed, fried wheat gluten, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and the requisite plate of lightly sauteed greens (pea leaves, sweet potato leaves, and water spinach are among my favorites) that were ordered with every meal. The meal was light but satisfying, everyday but memorable.
It just occurred to me that this is sort of a metaphor for how I feel about this whole trip and visiting my family. We are enormous in number; my mom has 10 siblings and my dad has 11. I lost track of how many first cousins I have so I just did a count and the grand total is 45. We live all over the world, in California, New York, Wisconsin, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and France. But when a bunch of us are together, it’s like putting a whole mess of different dishes that came out of the same kitchen on the same table for a night, and there is a palpable sense of harmony. Leaving all that great food in Taiwan gave me unexpected pangs of longing, but being there with my family (with my very own newish 2-person family as a subset) gave me a very hard-to-describe deep sense of belonging that I will never miss, despite the double-digit hours of air travel time and a bit of a language barrier that separate us (I probably have the Chinese vocabulary of a 6-year-old minus all the up-to-date slang… and then I turn around and try to translate things to John). I am beyond fortunate and beyond grateful. </sentimental thought-sharing>
To make basic rice porridge:
Bring 1 part short-grain white rice and 7-9 parts water to a boil in a large-enough pot. Season with a bit of salt, then lower heat and simmer partially covered, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until rice is softened. You can also toss in brown rice (might take a little longer to cook), peeled chunks of sweet potatoes or taro root, mung beans, or other dried beans at the beginning of cooking. Since rice porridge is wet and unflavored (okay fine, bland), I think it makes sense to have it with dishes that are on the dry side (as in not eaten with big puddles of sauce), crispy and/or fried, and a little heavy on flavor (spicy, salty, tangy, fermented, yes!). At home (in the photo) we had pressed tofu and peanuts with soy sauce and hot chiles, sauteed mustard greens with edamame, a basic omelet with scallions, and store-bought fried tiny fish coated in sesame seeds.
And finally, Happy Lunar New Year! I will be celebrating on the first night with the usual vegetarian dinner.
