My obsession with congee

I even do not remember when I first heard or read of congee. It must have been in relation to heath foods. From time to time I get on a health kick and search for foods good for me. I even strongly believe in food as medicine. Please do not take it against me. I can indulge in eating unhealthy food with the best of them. Not that I consider that to be my strength, perhaps the opposite, but to me it is important to enjoy food which is interesting, fresh, simple or, in contrast, refined tastes. I am very eclectic in my food preferences.

But I deviated from my today’s subject. Congee came to my awareness as a plane food but with some magic, healthy qualities. Now that I know much more about it I have realised  that congee’s health improving qualities are simply based on it being easy to digest. It does not cure that much as gives our system a break to recoup after an illness.

This is what Wikipedia sais about it:

Congee or conjee is a type of rice porridge or gruel popular in many Asian countries. When eaten as plain rice congee, it is most often served with side dishes. When additional ingredients, such as meat, fish, and flavorings, are added while preparing the congee, it is most often served as a meal on its own, especially when one is ill. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation. Despite its many variations, it is definitionally a thick porridge of rice largely disintegrated after prolonged cooking in water.

                                   
                              

Maybe it does not look as something one would like to try but I am still interested in finding more and learning how to cook it.

I decided to try to cook congee one day and I found, to my surprise, many recipes on a Polish sites. They seemed sensible enough and I gave it a go. After 2 hours of cooking my congee the water disappeared and the rice started to stick to the bottom of the pot. It was not a success but it was edible. Overcooked rice on its own has a small appeal to me so I experimented with adding in turn goji berries, vegetables, honey and nuts. Honey version was the most pleasing.

From my Chinese friends who treat their food seriously, I got very clear and detail instructions how to cook this specialty. I bought the right rice, picked the time when I intended to be at home for a while as it takes around two hours to cook. In fact my first recipe told me that it takes 4 hours. I was very happy to shorten the time to just over one hour.

My second try was following the recipe given by my Chinese friends. This time I could not believe that I had rice – water proportions right so I changed them to have less water than it was advised. This was another mistake, I think, as I got again a very thick concoction. When I compare my product to pictures, I subsequently found  on Internet, I think that the next time I will follow the recipe to a letter.

Lately I read again about curing power of congee. Traditionally a congee is cooked as soon as a family member is developing a cold. Another use is for stomach upsets and for hangovers. Practical even if time consuming. The hangover cure must be a western use of the remedy, I do not believe Chinse drink that much.  There are stories that Chinese men are very popular with Russian women who chose Chinese man for husbands as they do not get drunk and they do not beat their women.

Buying my special congee rice in a Chinese supermarket in Chatswood, I asked a Asian looking women about how she cooks her congee. Her answer was – I do not cook it, when I want a congee, I go to a restaurant.

The other day I was in a Chinese restaurant and I thought that maybe it would a good time to taste a professional version. To my great disappointment, the owner  of a very good and authentic, Chinese restaurant did not know of such a dish. Did we have linguistic or pronunciation problems? Not sure. I feel like I am in a search of not yet found congee. My post also seems to remind of Proust writing in its verbosity. I wish, I wish...