Congee with vegetables

05 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by Zoli in breakfast, Chinese, comfort food, gluten free, healthy, jasmine rice, kids, rice, Vegetarian

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Our late Saturday breakfast today was inspired by my sister in law mentioning making some congee. I’ve never made it before and wanted to for a while. Now this versatile tasty dish is going to be a staple in my house. It’s a simple and easy to make rice porridge (hardly any rice; it’s a surprisingly light dish) flavored with a little stock and topped with whatever you want: pork or chicken if you so desire, hot sauce, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chilies, vegetables such as mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, green beans, green onion, bamboo shoots, and then maybe an egg. There are many recipes out there to be inspired by once you have the basic congee made. The only downside is the time it takes to cook the rice.

I went for a glorious 8-mile run this morning in the bright sunshine and felt exhausted and achy when I got home. Poor hubby (not really) had a late night and was moving very slowly. We needed a light, healthy, nutrient-rich breakfast. I started the congee while I ran a hot bath and let it simmer away for an hour and a half. The last bit of cooking time I prepared the vegetable toppings and poached an egg. Nothing too challenging! A simplified version of congee would be a great meal for young children. I wish I had served this to my young ones when they were toddlers.

Vegetable congee
serves 2 hungry humans
1/4 cup of rice (jasmine rice works well)
4 cups of water
1 cup vegetable stock
pinch of sea salt

Toppings
1 cup shitake mushrooms
1 large carrot, julienned
1 handful fresh cilantro (coriander)
6 green onion, chopped into thirds
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
2 fresh eggs
olive oil
soy sauce
sriracha sauce or chili paste to serve

1) To prepare the congee, bring the rice, salt, water and stock to boil. Turn down to simmer and cover with a lid. Let cook about an hour and a half until the rice has turned to a soupy porridge.
2) Heat up a tbs of olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the garlic and ginger. Add the mushrooms and a splash of soy sauce. Cook until the mushrooms have absorbed their juices. Set aside.
3) Separately flash fry the carrot and green onion–about 30 seconds. Don’t overcook. Set aside.
4) Either soft boil, hard boil, fry or poach the eggs. I chose to poach them.
5) Serve the congee in bowls with the toppings and a splash of hot sauce, fresh sliced chilies and soy sauce as condiments.
One bowl goes down easily and you do not feel like you’ve had a heavy meal. There’s probably less rice in this than in a portion of vegetable soup with rice. Make for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a late late night feed.

Huevos rancheros with chipotle

14 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by Zoli in breakfast, cheese, gluten free, quick and awesome, Sauces, tex mex, Vegetarian

≈ 4 Comments

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avocado, chipotle, corn tortillas, Huevos rancheros, salsa, vegetarian breakfast

This is what I felt like making today and what my lucky lucky husband felt like eating. Me, myself and I never (ever) eat sunnyside-up eggs but I do love to fry them and look at them. They’re striking and pretty… in a gross way.

He also requested a side of beans and rice like he gets in his Cuban cafe for lunch, but that would simply take too much of my time. Huevos rancheros on their own, like this, are quick, simple and easy. There are a gazillion recipes for huevos rancheros as we all know. This is just one of them.

Ingredients for 2 ppl
4 corn tortillas
4 eggs
olive oil
grated cheese such as queso fresco
any sides such as sour cream, greek yogurt, avocado, hot sauce, rice and beans

for the warm chipotle salsa
1 200g can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed and sliced
1 jalapeno chili, deseeded and chopped
1/2 to 1 whole chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped*
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
salt and pepper to taste

* If you don’t have these chipotles in adobo sauce, skip them and add in chopped pickled jalapeno or use chipotle powder for the smoky flavor and extra spice.

1) First make the salsa. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the chopped onion, garlic, chilies and peppers on a med-high heat for a couple minutes.
2) Add in the can of diced tomatoes. Ground the cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle and add these in with a few grinds of salt and pepper. Then add in the chopped chipotle pepper.
3) Bring to a simmer and then turn heat down to med-low and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.
4) Next heat up olive oil in a small frying pan and fry the tortillas one by one to soften and warm. They don’t take long. Less than a minute on each side. Lay 2 tortillas on each plate.
5) Heat up a little more oil and crack two eggs in. Cook the sunnyside up eggs the way you like and then set them on the tortillas.
6) Warm up the salsa and then ladle it over the eggs, as much as you like.
7) Serve with grated cheese and other sides and condiments.
Enjoy! If you have these with a paloma (fresh grapefruit juice, tequila and a squirt of lime juice, then you will REALLY have a great morning. Spring is coming!