congee

i like congee (rice porridge). it's warm, comforting, and tasty. i had my wisdom teeth taken out a few days ago so mushy food is something i'm into right now. i am trying to develop my own recipe for it and last night was the first test drive. i prepared it as follows:

• 1/2 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups vegetable broth 
• 2 cups water (because i ran out of vegetable broth)
• about 1 tsp each of minced fresh ginger and garlic

i put all of this into my little yellow pot and let it come to a boil, then reduced to low heat, covered it, and let it sit until the broth/water was fully absorbed. this gave me 2 servings, which i stirred vigorously in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to further break down the rice. i topped the first bowl with sesame oil and sriracha, the other with tamari and sriracha (i like sriracha).

this wasn't super successful, but it was a good test drive. next time i buy rice i will buy jasmine or long-grain white rice, because i don't think i'm a really big fan of basmati. i will also use 4 cups of veg broth the next time i try this. another future endeavor will be to try making this in my crock pot...

how do you like to prepare congee? i know that every asian country has their own style, so i'm sure there are tons of different ways to prepare this.

-emma

p.s. i have a new friend living outside my window - an american red squirrel. i think he confused and hungry due to the dumping of snow we got yesternight. he is dedicated to getting into my bird feeders, but River is keeping him on his toes. i named him chester when i thought he was a chipmunk, and the name has stuck. he is very loud.