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.

Dukbokki, spicy Korean rice cake dish

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Zoli in comfort food, gluten free, Korean, rice, vegan, Vegetarian

≈ 6 Comments

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dukbokki, go chu jang, Korean rice cake, Korean vegetarian food, spicy rice cake

떡볶이. Dok, duk, dduk, ddeok… however you can spell it in English, is rice cake. It comes in different shapes and sizes and is very popular in dukguk (Rice cake soup for New Years) and this street food style dish, dukbokki. You can make the rice cakes and freeze them yourself or buy them in the refrigerated section of a Korean grocery store. For dukbokki, buy the rice sticks (rather than the flat round disks) which look like this:

There’s even a picture of dukbokki in the upper right hand corner 🙂

There are so many variations of this simple dish, which is filling (as it is mostly rice cake), spicy, tangy and a little sweet. The other main ingredients are go chu jang (the Korean chili paste) and water. Everything else just makes it better. Here’s what you will need for my veggie version (no anchovies or fish cake in this one).

Ingredients for 4-6 people
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 packet of rice cake sticks or about 1lb
1/2 piece of dried kelp (optional)
4-6 shitake mushrooms, sliced
3 or 4 spring onions, cut into large pieces
2-3 tbs go chu jang
1 tsp sugar
splash soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, sliced
handful fresh spinach
water as needed
black pepper
1/2 block of tofu, cut into small squares (optional)
sesame seeds for garnish
1 spring onion, sliced finely for garnish

1) I have seen Korean soup broth frequently made with dried anchovies and dried kelp, so for a veggie version, heat up the 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock to boiling, add the dried kelp and simmer for a few minutes. One sip of this simple concoction alone sends me back to Korea! Remove the dried kelp when soft and has released its flavor into the broth. If you don’t have dried kelp that’s ok. Skip to step 2.
2) Soak the rice cakes in water about half an hour. Then strain and set aside.
3) Add the minced garlic and shitake mushrooms to the vegetable stock and simmer for a couple minutes. Then add the onion, soaked rice cakes, go chu jang, soy sauce, sugar, black pepper and mix well.
4) Simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes and then add in the spinach and green onions and simmer another 5-10 minutes. Sometimes dubokki has fish cakes added to it. If you want some extra protein, add tofu instead.
5) Taste a rice cake and if it is tender and chewy, the dukbokki is done. The sauce should have thickened up and be nice and glossy. You can always add in a little more water if the rice cakes need more cooking or you want more sauce. Add more go chu jang or red pepper flakes if you want it spicier!
6) Serve with the sliced spring onion and sesame seeds.