Quick & Easy Chinese (33 page)
Read Quick & Easy Chinese Online
Authors: Nancie McDermott
RICE PORRIDGE
Rice is sustenance in China, as it is in much of Asia, and every detail of traditional Chinese cuisine reflects this essential truth. Hallmarks of Chinese cooking include the intensity of seasonings, deep appreciation of variety in textures, shapes, and colors, the importance of including soup and a wide array of dishes plain and complex in one meal, and the positioning of meat more as a seasoning or accent rather than in the starring role. All these principles presume that people will be eating bowls and bowls and bowls of plain, unseasoned rice and that lots of bites from a variety of communal dishes will make for a nourishing, pleasurable, and satisfying meal.
We love rice in that plain, simple, cooked-in-water state, and we eat rice cooked in the rice cooker several nights a week. You may do the same, or you may love rice cooked with butter and salt, or a little olive oil. You may prefer brown rice or basmati rice, or rice pilaf with chicken stock, herbs, and spices. Rice in whatever form suits you will go wonderfully with the rice-centered dishes in this book. You can also substitute bread, couscous, barley, quinoa, pasta, noodles, or potatoes, as long as you include something of substance as a companion in terms of rounding out a meal and providing a platform of sorts for the stir-fries, soups, and stews included here.
This is a chapter of rice dishes, including a basic rice recipe, which is a formula for turning raw, dry grains of rice into soft, wonderful bites of cooked rice. Cooking rice is simple, but it’s also confounding and can cause frustration in wonderful cooks who can’t figure out why two simple things, rice and water, can’t turn into a third thing, good cooked rice, every single time.
If rice success eludes you, a rice cooker can bridge the gap, as can a coach, someone who knows how and will let you watch and will watch you over time, until you get the hang of it. You can also buy cooked plain rice from many Chinese restaurants for the asking, in quantity, and at a great price. Cooked rice keeps well and reheats beautifully in a microwave or steamer, so consider buying a supply to take home the next time you eat out. Then package it up for future rice meals if that helps you keep rice handy.
The remaining dishes include four versions of fried rice, which in Asia would always be a main course or one-dish meal, rather than an alternative to steamed rice as it is offered here. You can make fried rice as a take-along dish for potlucks and use it as a centerpiece dish for a gathering, with an array of dishes to accompany it, perhaps from the grill or from guests who bring something to share.
Rice porridge, also known as
jook
, congee, or
moi
, is beloved as a breakfast as well as a late-night pleasure throughout Asia. It is simple to make, and can serve as the main rice for any meal, as it often does in Taiwanese homes. Plan to serve it with salty tidbits such as ham, pickles, omelet strips, or roast chicken.
Known as
jook
in Cantonese,
shee fahn
in Mandarin, and as congee in many English-language descriptions, this simple porridge is a mainstay of the Chinese table.
Jook
is beloved as a nourishing, easily prepared meal, ideal for small children, elderly people, and anyone who is ill. But don’t wait till you’re convalescing—Chinese people enjoy it as a simple breakfast, a late-night snack, and a substantial anchor to a dim sum feast. This basic version requires only a little rice and a lot of water, simmered together until the rice dissolves into a luscious soup.
Jook
comes with a selection of salty, hearty, or pungent accompaniments such as roast chicken, grilled seafood, smoked fish, salty egg or omelet strips, peanuts, chopped fresh ginger, and thinly sliced green onion. You can also serve it in place of rice or noodles to anchor an Asian-style meal.
½ cup long-grain or medium-grain rice
4½ cups water
SERVES
4
TO
6
NOTE
Medium-grain or short-grain rice is ideal for making rice porridge, but long-grain rice works nicely, and since that is our house rice, that’s what I use in most cases. Some traditional versions call for less rice, more water, and a longer, slower cooking time. My version makes a thick, substantial soup, which you can thin to your liking by adding hot water gradually, just before serving time
.
Rinse the rice in cool water and drain well. Add the 4½ cups of water and bring to a rolling boil. Stir well and then cook at a gentle but lively boil for 10 minutes, stirring often.
Adjust the heat to maintain a lively, active simmer, and cook, stirring now and then, until the rice has cooked down into a soft, thick porridge, about 45 minutes.
Serve hot or warm, in small bowls with soup spoons (Chinese-style porcelain soup spoons are ideal). Or set aside to cool and refrigerate, covered, for up to 1 day. To reheat, add about 1 cup water (it will have thickened a lot) and warm very gently over medium heat, stirring often, until steaming hot.