What's the Chinese equivalent of "chicken soup"? Why congee, or 粥, of course, that delectable, nourishing and soothing rice porridge cooked by the Chinese since time began. Recently I've been making a lot of chinese pickles, both the rice vinegar pickle and the soy sauce or hua gua pickle and, duh, suddenly realized that having tons of chinese pickles means congee heaven.
So I've started making congee a lot and it's not only easy and fun to make (you can throw most everything in and make delicious congee) but also a serious nourishing the soul kind of food as well as being very, very good for babies, kids and persons feeling under the weather. Did you know that Chinese moms always feed their babies congee?
Little old chinese ladies used to stop us on the street and in the shops to ask us if we were making pork bones congee for our little girl when she was one or two years old. And when we replied ashamedly "Umm, no...", those poor ladies always appeared very distressed and anxious. Ah well, it's better late than never.
