eating while sick
I am currently nursing a nasty cold. Symptoms: hacking cough, runny nose, head congestion, worse-than-usual malaise, no fever (calm down people, I’m pretty sure it’s not H1N1, the disease formerly known as swine flu). Thankfully, I still have my appetite and digestive abilities. A simple rice porridge has always been my go-to meal during times of less-than-optimal health. Like my hangover meal, it’s a good way to increase fluid intake to replenish what is lost through post nasal drip, vomiting, or diarrhea (sorry I’m mentioning snot, barf, and feces on a blog about food). It’s also what my mom made for my younger self when I was sick.
To make my porridge meal, I used long grain jasmine rice because it was what I had on hand. You could also use short grain white rice (will produce a more traditional, viscous porridge, thanks to a slightly different starch profile), brown rice (more fiber and micronutrients, gets a little gritty and takes longer), or a mixture of brown and white rice. I basically boil the rice in lots of water and a bit of salt for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep it from boiling over. For a richer tasting porridge, cook the rice in chicken stock.
Here are the toppings I put on my rice porridge (aka congee, jook, zhou, or xi fan). Clockwise from left:
Chinese pickled cucumbers: I have a small jar of these in my fridge, that was given to me by my mom three Thanksgivings ago (!). This (like many other East Asian condiments) NEVER goes bad. They are very sweet and have a slightly funky mushroomy flavor.
Pork sung: I love this stuff. It is unusually furry and resembles lint or those balls of hair, carpet fibers, and dust that collect in the corners of your house. It’s made by cooking the sh*t out of pork, then shredding and drying it. Like the pickled cucumbers, it tastes sweet, and the small jar from my mom has been sitting in my fridge since I moved to New York. Chinese people have really perfected their food preservation methods, let me tell you.
Scallions: I didn’t have any fresh scallions, so I used leftover oil-soaked scallions from Momofuku.
Cilantro: Whenever I see cilantro called Chinese parsley, I wonder if Indians, Mexicans and other peoples around the world are a little miffed.
Shredded egg: One egg, scrambled with a little salt and cooked in a small pan, then cut into strips.
Everything is topped with a drizzle of soy sauce and many sprinkles of white pepper.
