23 hours ago, weinoo said:@liuzhou do you have congee out in your city? How is it made?
Sure do. It is very popular and although it is often made at home, it is also sold all over the city in restaurants ranging from hole-in-the-wall shacks to classy joints. There are also a number of people selling it from hand carts early in the mornings. That said, it is not only a breakfast item. People eat it at any time. I've even been served it at banquets.
Known as 粥 (zhōu) or sometimes 稀饭 (xī fàn, literally 'watery rice'), it is most often simply rice boiled in water, although stocks are used in the more upmarket places. It is unsalted and intended to be a neutral background for accompaniments such as pickled vegetables, Chinese sausage, fermented tofu in chilli, dried daikon radissh, bamboo shoots in chilli oil, peanuts, pickled young ginger, pickled celtuce stem, or salted duck eggs. The list is almost endless. And some people prefer just to eat it unadorned (白粥 - bái zhōu, literally 'white porridge').
Meat congees are also popular as are sweet congees. The latter are made from a variety of grains and beans.
Here is the menu from one of my favourite places.
Translation:
Congee / Porridge:
Frog congee
Pig Offal congee
Fish congee
Beef congee
Chicken congee
Preserved egg and lean pork congee
Lean pork and leaf mustard congee
Rice field eel congee
Sweet congees
Mung bean congee
Eight treasure congee
Peanut, silver ear fungus, jujube and mung bean congee
Home made chicken congee
Supermarkets sell premixed grains in various combinations for the sweet congees.
I have to go to one of the larger supermarkets later today. I'll take some more pictures and get details of what's in the mixes.
