A Cure for What Ails You
March 6th, 2010 | View Comments
I was feeling groggy and cranky this afternoon, nursing a headache and a bad case of there’s-nothing-to-eat-in-the-house.
I was messing around the computer and came across a recipe for rice congee I’d bookmarked a while ago. A light bulb went on. There is plenty of rice in the house, and rice congee is an excellent tonic for when you feel out-of-sorts.
I took out the rice cooker and used the recipe for inspiration. I used one cup of rice, filled the bowl almost to the 1-cup water line for porridge, then topped it off with chicken stock. I threw in a few slices of fresh ginger and a large clove of minced garlic for good measure.
Now for something to eat with the rice. My husband was baking some chicken wings destined for buffalo sauce, so I asked him to save a few for me sans sauce—I’m a bit buffalo-ed out. Once the wings were done, I brushed them with a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil, then stuck them back in the residual heat of the oven to help the sauce adhere without continuing to cook the chicken.
I had some napa cabbage and shiitake mushrooms I’d been meaning to use for quite a while now and figured they would go great with the flavors I’d already put in the rice congee. I sliced six or seven mushrooms and sauteed them quickly with some more ginger and garlic, added enough napa leaves to fill the pan, then covered to cook. Once the napa wilted, I seasoned with salt and pepper.
I topped it all off with some Chinese pickled cucumbers and fried gluten, then tried really hard not to gobble it all while it was still hot enough to burn my tongue.
Yvonne posted this on March 6th, 2010 @ 7:37pm in Chinese | Permalink to "A Cure for What Ails You"
Likes to cook, eat, grow herbs, and collect kitchen gear in Houston, TX. 
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Have you looked at the Flavor Bible?
I understand that I’ve become quite the evangelist for this book, but it sounds like the kind of thing you might like.
Own it! Love it.