09 Feb 2011 No Comments
All Hail the Rice Cooker: Brown Rice Congee with Poached Egg
Some Asians take umbrage when westerners can’t tell them apart, it’s true. I’m Asian and as I’m writing this, it makes me chuckle a bit. I can’t tell Caucasians apart either, so it really is not that big a deal. My beloved brother-in-law is still ever so slightly irked that when we go around Asia, most kids in the countryside think he is American because he is white. What can you do? That’s what they know. Blame it on the movies. Poor Welsh bastard. Ha ha! It’s not their fault that they can’t tell the differences in our skin tones. Maybe that’s better. Maybe we should all just be one color anyway. Perhaps to westerners our small, dark, Asian eyes all look the same. Oh well. I won’t object to that. Even though I’m fully aware of the differences, I actually welcome the Asian commonality. One thing is for sure, one common thread connects all Asians, a grain that maybe reflects our often, small slits for eyes: rice. Everywhere you go in the region, you will find rice. It is the food of Asia. In every country rice is served in some form or other, mostly as an accompaniment to a main dish. People eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner steamed, stir fried, or as congee or porridge. Sometimes it is prepared as a snack or dessert rolled in leaves or cooked in coconut milk and served with fruit. There is no end to the serving options when it comes to rice. One can only have so much pizza delivered to your home microdermabrasion doorstep before you swear off the stuff and there are days that you just can’t face the outside world. Your only option left is to scrounge in your own home or starve. So, it might not come as no surprise when, stuck at home on a cold and dark rainy day and looking for some comfort food, rice, congee to be precise, is the first thought that came to mind. Naturally, an Asian like myself anywhere will have a tankless water heater rice cooker—it’s not some mysteriously special cooking equipment, steamed rice is easy enough in any pot, it’s just easier (takes even less brain power if that’s possible) in a rice cooker. Unfortunately, after checking the contents of the pantry, it seemed that rice stores were high (there were two packets of Philippine rice, gifts from friends who came three weeks ago, red rice and brown rice) but there was not much else by way of hard money lenders vegetables or meat or anything else that can be thrown in. There were a few pieces of shiitake mushrooms; some sesame seeds, dark soy sauce at the bottom of the bottle that probably amounted to a spoonful, half a sheet of “fish bacon” or dried fish that was sliced so thinly and dried into sheets (these end up getting fried into extra crisp, salty goodness), Japanese nori, oyster sauce, and an egg. Anyway, this mishmash of metal detector nothing ingredients actually saved the day. With a little bit of this and a dash of that from assorted condiments from unorganized cupboards, a bowl of steaming brown rice shiitake mushroom congee topped with shredded nori, poached egg and crispy fish bacon emerged. A hearty, filling, belly-warming concoction all cooked in one humble electric rice cooker in under 35 minutes (planning and scrounging for ingredients included). This must be what they mean when they talk about steadicam soul food down south. Even with this humble fare, this bowl of congee hit all the spots. Satisfying all the cravings and my hunger all in one go. Much love to the rice cooker, and to whoever invented you.