Yesterday I woke up really early and offered to send V to childcare. Husband was delighted, this meant he gets more time at his office. In the lift he observed that I was "full of beans". He may be right, I don't feel so lethargic anymore, the new formulation from my French endocrinologist must finally be working.
This morning the same thing happened, my eyes flew open at around 6.30 a.m. What would you like for breakfast, I badgered husband. Eggs, no, he has already consumed his weekly allowance. Oatmeal, no, I didn't think to soak some last night. Congee, hmm, sounds good.
I let Mimi out of the room, brushed my teeth and got dressed. It was just past 7 a.m. I looked in the pantry, there was plenty of vegetables but the meats were all frozen stiff so it would have to be a herbivorous version. I boiled water, scooped rice into saucepan, peeled and rinsed vegetables, prepared side dishes and garnishes, laid the table, boiled more water for a pot of tea, drew the curtains, ingested medication and did the dishes. At 7.45 a.m. I got GG and V out of bed. At 8.10 a.m. voila, a warming yet light breakfast was ready. I served it in a 70's covered crock found at a flea market and felt very Stepford wifey but the family loved it. The recipe is dead easy and could be adapted to whatever is in the larder, high energy housewife or not.
Vegetarian congee:
Rice, 1.5 cups for 3 adults.
Root vegetables: I used sweet potatoes, carrots, knob of ginger.
Green vegetables: I used napa cabbage, nai bai and defrosted green peas.
1. Wash the rice and bring to boil with about 5 times its volume of water. When the water boils, stir in a teaspoon of cooking oil. Leave on moderate boil and stir from time to time to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
2. Peel and cut root vegetables in small chunks and add to pot.
3. When rice softens and starts to break up, add hard stalks of cabbages. If congee is too thick, add more water, if too watery let more water boil off. Once desired consistency and thickness is reached, add leafy vegetables and peas and bring to a final boil.
4. Suggested condiments: pickles, chopped scallions, fried shallots, shredded seaweed, inari pre-soaked in hot water to remove excess oil and sugar, toasted sesame seeds, julienned ginger slices etc. Not all at once of course, just a selection. Taste would be enhanced with some soy sauce, sesame oil and of course, good old Marmite which would make it not vegetarian anymore but still very delicious.
Did I send V to childcare again? Of course, and on the way back made a detour to the market for some groceries. Like they say, I was energetic enough to "ta lou fu", literally fight with tigers!
