Foodie

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Fish Congee/Yee Sang Chook




What do I eat for breakfast? This question arised in many a conversion with westerners.  Congee, of course, nothing beats a bowl of hot congee/chook on a cold winter's morning, besides warming the body, it takes the place of a beverage.  While we think of rice as belonging at the dinner table, in many parts of China and Asia, this nutritious staple is consumed three times daily, including for breakfast.


Nonetheless, there's more similarity between an asian and western breakfast than it would first appear. Many asians begin their day with a warm bowl of congee/chook, a watery rice gruel that bears marked resemblance to porridge.  Ah, porridge, for the longest ever, we in Malaysia, have associated the english term for congee/chook as porridge.  When my brother was hospitalized, we told our aussie sister-in-law to make him porridge and you guessed right - she made oatmeal porridge and then did we know that porridge and congee/chook are not the same.  To her, congee/chook is 'rice soup'.


Ingredients:  

For the congee/chook
1 cup jasmine rice
1/4 cup glutinous rice
1 tsp salt
1 small piece rock sugar
1 tbsp cooking oil.

Accompaniments:

1 lb fish fillet(any fish of your choice)
Fried Tung Fun
1 knob of ginger - peeled and juliened
Fried garlic
Spring onion/coriander - chopped
Soya sauce
Sesame oil
Pepper

Marinate for the fish fillet:

Shaoxing wine
Soya sauce
Sesame oil
White pepper
Ginger Juice


Method:



Put all the ingredients for the congee/chook in the pressure cooker and add enough water to come to half pot.  Close the lid and bring up the pressure to 15 lbs.  Pressurized for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat. Release pressure before opening lid.

Turn heat on again and using a wire whisk, stir and whisk vigorously until congee/chook has thickened. Add cold water as you whisked to the consistency you like.

Fried Tung Fun
Fish Fillet - sliced thinly

Juliened ginger
Marinate the sliced fish fillets
Put marinated fish fillets at the bottom of a large bowl and pour hot congee over them.  Top with all the accompaniments and enjoy.

34 comments:

Simply June said...

looks super yummy! my husband hates fish congee.. he thinks there's always bones in the fish congee! what kind of fish did u use here?? it would be awesome to keep us warm from the freezing temperature!

Ube said...

I thought too porridge and congee is one and the same. Thanks for the clarification in differentiating the two. I love meatball congee with fried yow jiao.

Quinn said...

Simple and nice but I always have this freaky feeling the fish slices will not cook because my knife skills are terrible and I usually get uneven slices of fish!

Unknown said...

simply jane

the fish in the picture is Flounder fillets - since they come frozen, do not defrost them, cut when the fillets are frozen and you can get very even thin slices, use a serrated knife.

°三温♥ said...

Hi Lily,I hv some question regarding Pandan Kaya fudge cake. Could u please check when u r free? The cake turn out so strange.

Unknown said...

三温

What happened to the cake you made that was so strange?

°三温♥ said...

Hi Lily,

Its look like an island floating on the sea :pthe cake float when i pour the pandan kaya at the 1st round. Stupid me continue for the another 2 slices of chiffon cake, finally, it come out the "island".

Again, i put it into the ice box. After 2 hours of chilling, the kaya still looks watery.I take out the cake slices and cook the kaya again. finally, the cake... was in the dustbin :p..


i am not sure is it the flour problem,i found myself do not have corn flour, so i mix rice flour x5 tbsp and greeen BEAN flour x4 tbsp.

erm... u have any idea what's wrong to the cake?

Unknown said...

°三温♥

yes you guessed right, i think it is the flour that you used.

i just made this cake 2 weeks ago and it was perfect. you have to get the right green bean/pea starch and the right agar agar. you can use instant jelly powder or gelatin.

°三温♥ said...

Hi lily,this for comment.Ermm,the flour I use is green bean flour but not green bean starch.I can't find green bean starch here.Vietnam is a very funny country,here doesn't here any baking ingredient. Ok...I will try the 2nd time then. Tks Lily for ur recipe and reply.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,
Have you made Kway Chup? I know the Saigon Market (I think it's called?) at Federal here in Denver has the intestines and blood but I don't know what kind of rice noodle will work as the viet ones seem to be quite thin. Also, do you know where to get good tau pok in denver? All I have seen in tau kua!

Unknown said...

anonymous

i have not cooked the real kway chup cos no one here wants to eat the pig's spareparts. I did cook with just belly pork only.

the noodles are available in the asian markets - it comes in triangle pieces and you cook them as you would any rice noodles.

taufu pok is in every asian markets, look for them in the taufu area.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if you have a link or tips for fried tung fun. I never made it right and came out chewy and tough.
Thanks.

Unknown said...

anonymous

the oil for frying the tung hoon has to be very hot before you put the raw/unsoaked tung hoon to fry.

Botany Dave said...

While to the modern Westerner "Porridge" generally means 'oatmeal,' "Porridge" in fact can be made with any grain- including rice.

Anonymous said...

Always curious how restaurant make their congee, yours look perfectly like the restaurant. I would like to try this congee, but, since I don't own a "pressure cooker". Can I cook on stove top.

Unknown said...

anonymous

i used the pressure cooker alot cos it cooks so much faster than regular cooking on the stove top. Yes, cook the congee on the regular stovetop.

Anonymous said...

thank you for the prompt reply.. now i can suprise my american husband that chinese congee taste good and with that i say "good eat"

Anonymous said...

Sorry for my ignorance! I remember mom used to soak the glutinous rice overnight before cooking. Do I need to soak the glutinous rice ahead of time, and if not, do I cook the jasmine and glutinous rice the same time. Beside from fish, can I do the same with chicken, pork, beef or any kind of seafood beside from fish? And if I may, do I use the same accompaniments and the same marinating sauce to the choice of meat I use for the chook. I tried to cook chook many time. I am not pleased with my chook, it has no Oomph. It look easy, but not to me. I would appreciate if you could give me some recipes to cook good chook and soups. Thank you! P/s Sorry for the long questions.

Unknown said...

anonymous

do not apologise, i too have many questions about cooking and am learning something new every now and then.

There are a few chook recipes in my blog.

Chook is cooked and eaten in different ways according to the dialects - chew chow, hokkien and cantonese have their ways of cooking the chook.

Tell me which type do you prefer?

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily, I don’t know exactly what I press, but boy am I glad to stumble into your index recipes. I did see those congee lists. There is no preference, as food is a matter of acquiring the taste as long as they are tasty and healthy, I am ok with it. I like your blog and since I am a late comer to your blog, I kind of like “kia su”, I stayed up until late hours, to make sure I go through the index one by one (have more to go). I moved to the USA 6 years ago and miss Malaysian food a lot. I regret that I never had learned how to cook a simple meal. Thank you kindly for having shared your recipe and knowledge. It helps a lot. Luckily my hubby likes M’sian food too. So back to the question,

Do I need to soak the glutinous rice ahead of time, and if not, do I cook the jasmine and glutinous rice at the same time? Besides when cooking with fish, can I do the same with chicken, pork, beef or any kind of seafood besides fish? And if I may, do I use the same accompanying ingredients and the same marinating sauce with various meats, which I use for the fish?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Dear Lily, I take that you are not going to answer my questions. It seems to me that it would be unethical to publish my questions, if you do not have the intention to answer them. In that way I don’t have to keep coming back to that particular blog, hoping to see an answer from you, when it seems that it won’t be answered. Thank you

Anonymous said...

Dear Lily, Kindly take my questions out from your blog since you are not going to answer. Thank you.

I take that you are not going to answer my questions. It seems to me that it would be unethical to publish my questions, if you do not have the intention to answer them. In that way I don’t have to keep coming back to that particular blog, hoping to see an answer from you, when it seems that it won’t be answered.

Unknown said...

anonymous

it is not that i am not going to answer your comment. Have you ever thought that i could be in wiplace where there is no internet access? I will try to answer asap.

Unknown said...

anonymous

Do I need to soak the glutinous rice ahead of time, and if not, do I cook the jasmine and glutinous rice at the same time?

>> you do not need to soak the glutinous rice, just add in to the jasmine rice, add water and cook until rice is soft.

Besides when cooking with fish, can I do the same with chicken, pork, beef or any kind of seafood besides fish? And if I may, do I use the same accompanying ingredients and the same marinating sauce with various meats, which I use for the fish?

>> you may add in any type of meat or seafood you wish and the marinate is the same but i like to add a little cornstarch/tapioca to the meat.

Anonymous said...

Kindly let me know how much Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, ginger juice, soya sauce and white pepper I need to use to to marinate a 1 lb fish fillet. Thank you

Unknown said...

anonymous

for a lb of fish fillet, 3 tbsp shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp ginger juice, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp white ground pepper and 3 tbsp light soya sauce. if you wish a pinch of sugar can also be added.

Anonymous said...

Just finished cooking this congee. The marinated fish turn out great. Unfortunately I sliced the fish a little too thick and had to cook the fish inside the congee. All in all I would say I am please with the turn out. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

thinking of buying one pressure cooker to cook using your recipe.what is the brand of your pressure cooker?cooking by gas stove or electric?

Unknown said...

tay qiying

a good pressure would be one that is stainless steel and the gasket if possible must be of silicone. If the gasket is made of rubberm make sure that it is readily available - without the gasket, the pressure cooker would be like an ordinary pot. All pressure cookers unless electrically made can be used on gas or electric stove top.

Lilian said...

I recently purchased a pressure cooker and want to try to cook congee in it rather than the usual stove top. How much water do i add to 1/2 cup rice? Normally for 100g rice/ 1/2 cup rice i add about 1200-1400ml water. Should I add the same or less? THe consistency I normally i have is fairly thick but I don't like super thick congee. Advice please. Thanks!

Unknown said...

lilian

good for you, now that you have a pressure cooker, you can cook many recipes in a considerable amount of time.

For your congee, i would top the rice with water not more than half of the pot. please do add a tsp or so of oil, some salt and sugar for taste. The oil will prevent the rice from foaming too much and clog the pressure cooker. Cook with pressure for 5 - 9 minutes. Let the pressure release by itself, this way, you will save on energy. Open the cover of the pressure cooker after all the pressure are released, then turn on fire/heat again and adjust the thickness of your congee by adding water to thin it down, or continue to cook the water away.

happy cooking

Lilian said...

Wow, that's fast! Normally i cook congee at least an hour or so or even more on the stove. I do always add salt and pepper, garlic oil, a touch a sugar and 1 tsp wine to taste to my usual congee. So u mean u don't have to cook it on high for 25 mins? I saw a recipe that cooks congee for about 20 mins. So u recommend about 9 mins on high for about 1/2 cup rice? Would 1200ml water be alright for 100g rice or 1/2 cup rice? Thanks a lot. Much appreciate your tips.

Unknown said...

lilian

like i have mentioned, the amount of water used should not be more than half the pot. Rice should be soft by 5 - 8 minutes. When i open the pressure cooker, i will use a whisk to whip the rice until it becomes very smooth, like the hong kong type of chook. heed these suggestions, you will definitely have a very smooth chook.

tiffany_keep_going said...

It's really nice:) i love congee too:)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...