Congee Around Asia

My memory was jogged today as I positioned myself in front of the laptop to write about the time I sat and savoured a bowl of Cháo Sườn (pork rib rice porridge), on a small plastic stool by the busy roadside in the Old Quarter, Hanoi.

A simple pot of rice porridge was being stirred over coals by an old Aunt and as she stirred the simmering rice, glimpses of pork emerged to the surface. She scooped a good ladle or two of it into a plastic bowl, covering the freshly cracked egg, and then topped it with scissor-cut fried dough sticks (quẩy) and a generous helping of pork floss (ruốc)

The honking symphony of the scooters, the footsteps of tourists and the chatter of the Vietnamese vendors around the street stall was a simple and raw setting, just as street food should be enjoyed. I found stillness and comfort in eating this centuries-old dish that has been made in a multitude of households and countries since its first documented recordings during the Zhou Dynasty (1000BC).  

‘Congee’ is a derivative of the Tamil word ‘Kanji’ that was since changed by the Portuguese and came full circle to be known as Zhou/Congee. It is one of the simplest dishes you will find on your travels throughout Asia, yet every person who cooks it in every country puts their spin on flavours, and textures from lugaw arroz caldo in the Philippines, bor bor in Cambodia, kanji in India, or chok/jok in Thailand.

What is Congee?

Congee is a savoury rice porridge that is made by boiling rice in water or bone broth until the grains are completely softened and can still either be recognised, or they have been cooked down to resemble a type of white gruel. In some parts of Asia, it is also made with other grains such as millet, sorghum and barley. Congee is a dish that has been used to feed those in famine or settle an upset stomach and can be eaten at any time of the day. In Asia, rice porridge is popular for breakfast and can also be eaten as a side dish. The texture and individuality of a congee or rice porridge are in the base broth, type of rice/grain used, meat, toppings and finishing sauces and herbs.

 

China

Congee in China varies from region to region due to the availability of grains and ingredients. Cantonese congee in Guangzhou uses white rice and is decorated with century egg, beef, fish, or salted pork and peanuts with white pepper and soy sauce. Teochew porridge is light, and the rice grains remain separated and is served alongside small cooked and pickled side dishes of meat and vegetables. Hakka rice congee combines glutinous rice with white rice and contains heavier flavoured proteins such as pork belly and dried cuttlefish. The congee of Shanghai combines both rice and grains (usually millet), and is eaten with preserved vegetables, shredded tofu skin, and pork.

A significant type of congee is Laba, which is a traditional congee eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth month in the Chinese calendar and contains grains, beans, nuts, and fruit.  

Cambodia

Cambodian borbor is more of a rice soup than a porridge where the grains of rice, usually Jasmine, swim around the bowl separately to take on the flavour of the stock which is commonly made from either pork or chicken.
The umami broth is sometimes boosted by dried preserved seafood and a pinch of MSG.

Borbor can be topped with shredded Khmer chicken (link to Khmer chicken), pork or even fish. It is optionally served with cha kway (fried dough sticks) and all the typical Cambodian condiments which adorn each table of any eatery (lime, fermented soy beans, pickled fresh chillies, red chilli sauce). Pair bor bor with an iced local coffee and you are set for the rest of the day.

Learn a little bit more about Cambodian bor bor HERE.

Nanakusa Gayu (7 herbs rice porridge)
Credit @justonecookbook

Japan

Japanese Okayu is a rather thick rice porridge that is usually made with polished short-grain white rice or sushi rice known as hakumai. The Japanese have used okayu for feeding babies, the elderly and also individuals with digestion issues. Some ingredients such as roe, salmon, umeboshi or egg can be added to okayu and the both is sometimes flavoured with dashi or miso. Influenced by the Southern Chinese tradition of preparing soup with 7 vegetables on the 1st Chinese calendar month, the Nanakusa no sekku (festival of the seven herbs), uses seven herbs in the Okayu and is known as Nanakusa-gayu.

Indonesia

Indonesia’s bubur ayam is a congee that takes your palate on a journey of flavours and textures. It breaks the mould of traditional rice porridge and is an extremely popular street food throughout Indonesia, particularly for breakfast. Each region in Indonesia has its own variations, but it is essentially a strongly flavoured chicken rice porridge.  Shredded chicken is added, along with a myriad of textures and tastes such as roasted peanuts, fried scallions, green onions, cakwe (fried dough sticks), kerupuk (crackers), soy sauce, sesame oil and sometimes fish sauce. . It is not known as a spicy dish, however, there is always a little bit of sambal that is served on the side.

Thailand

Thailand’s Chok/Jok is an extremely smooth porridge that uses broken Jasmine rice and typically uses either pork (jok moo) or chicken (jok gai) to flavour it. The rice is cooked with water until an oatmeal consistency and gathers flavour, texture and colour from ingredients of pork meatballs and offal or chicken, soft-boiled egg, fried garlic, thinly sliced ginger, spring onions, a dash of soy sauce and a dusting of white pepper.

Philippines

Lugaw is the umbrella term for the Phillipino version of rice porridge which can be savoury or sweet and use a variety of meats such as chicken, beef, pork fish and frog. The sweeter versions of lugaw contain chocolate (champurrado) or corn (ginataaing mais).

Lugaw arroz caldo is the chicken version that uses sticky rice to make the porridge. The rice is seared in oil with the rice, ginger, garlic and onion and then brought to a simmering boil until the grains have broken down into a soupy texture. Arroz caldo is tinctured with a saffron like colour that is imparted by kasubha (dried safflower).

The extremely savoury, meaty arroz caldo is topped with fried garlic, boiled eggs, spring onions, a splash of fish sauce and a generous squeeze of calamansi.

Chicken Arroz Caldo (Philippines)
Credit @panlasangpinoy

Chok/Jok from (Thailand)

Paal Kanji (India)
Credit @yummytummyaarthi

India

In the vast country of India, many types of Kanji or rice porridges use a variety of rice and including lentils or beans. Other ingredients used in Indian kanji include milk, curd, and coconut as well as a finishing touch of tempered herbs, spices or chillies. A rice porridge known as khichdi is a mixture of rice and moong dal and has been used as a prescription food for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine.

Vietnam

Vietnam’s Cháo is extremely simple, yet one of my favourite rice porridge dishes in the region and comes in many varieties. It is cooked predominately with short-grain rice and water until it is a medium-thick consistency where the grains have completely broken down. Chao can contain pork offal, duck, mushroom, pork meatballs and mushrooms. It is dressed with meat floss to give an airy and chewy texture, partially cooked egg, green onions, crispy garlic, century egg, and soy sauce.
It is essential to pair it with quay (fried dough) to dip and wipe every last morsel of this tasty dish that is served not only for breakfast but throughout the entire day for sustenance and absolute pleasure.  

The history of congee is extensive and its popularity in so many countries that have adopted this simple and humble dish and made it their own is a testament that it is one of the ultimate comfort foods that can make you feel better and transport you to a place of happiness and content in both your belly and your tastebuds.

Wherever you travel in Asia, make sure you seek out a bowl of congee, and if you aren’t travelling anytime soon, you can always make this simple fish congee recipe using Hong Spices white pepper seasoning.

You can find the recipe HERE.

 

Cháo Sườn in Hanoi

AND OTHER CARB STORIES…..

 
 

ABOUT

Simply Delicious Cacio e Pepe

A tangled shiny tower of long tonnarelli strands, embraced in a thin yet visible coating of sauce is placed down in front of me right next to my glass of Montepulciano.

I look down at the simplicity of this dish and a rush of sheer giddiness overcomes me, I look around and smile triumphantly to myself, and plunge my fork into the glorious mess. Catching a few strands of the long rectangular spaghetti and twirling it around my fork (no spoons here!), I bite into the perfectly cooked pasta and savour the salty cheese sauce that is speckled with heat from toasted black pepper.

As simple as it appears to be, there is a whole lot that can go wrong with this traditional Roman dish, but when it is executed beautifully, it instils a lifelong memory that you can store forever in your palate’s flavour bank.

Cacio e Pepe. How can such a simple dish of cheese, pasta, and pepper be so memorable and popular, being served in its true form and thousands of other variations all around the world? Good food doesn’t have to be complicated and can be accessible to everyone.

There is a wonderful story of shepherds in the Apennine Mountains carrying dried pasta for a filling meal and pepper to help stimulate and warm them in the winter months. With the addition of cheese made from the milk of the sheep they were herding, the infamous cacio e pepe was invented.

It is more likely this Roman peasant dish was one of sustenance for the factory and mine workers on the outskirts of the Lazio region. Although pasta has been around in Italy since the 1300s, it was not an accessible food source as it is today. Prior to the 1800s, the lower class was more likely to have consumed bread and polenta while the elite societies enjoyed pasta. Rather than a vessel carrying delicious cheese and sauces, pasta was usually overcooked nestled amongst meat, vegetables, spices, herbs, and even fruit.

Cacio e Pepe was probably invented around the 1800s post-unification of Italy when pasta became a popular staple amongst the majority. The popularity of pasta most likely started in Sicily and Naples where wheat was sold relatively cheaply and it eventually spread throughout other regions of the country when meat became extremely scarce. Pasta then was industrialised during the 17th century when the torchio machine was invented, enabling pasta to be made in larger quantities.  

 

Over the years the dish has morphed into many variations that even use Parmigiano Reggiano, resulting in a sweeter and nutty finish. Cacio e pepe has become an inspiration for many dishes such as ice cream, biscuits, pizza, and also risotto.

The Anatomy of Cacio e Pepe

Pasta
The pasta, tonnarelli or spaghetti alla chittara, is cooked in salty boiling water until springy and al dente.

Cheese
Cacio, meaning cheese is what brings a unique flavour to this Roman dish. Pecorino Romano, a sharp-tasting salty cheese made from 100% sheep milk is finely grated and mixed with a small amount of starchy pasta water until it has emulsified and made a ‘sauce’.

Pepper
The pasta is added to the ‘sauce’ and tossed a final time with toasted crushed black pepper, adding both warmth and spice to finish off the dish.

And that is all there is to it. simple, right?

If you haven’t tried Cacio e Pepe, I implore you to give it a shot and see how it tastes, serve it with a simple salad and a glass of your favourite white or red. It is one of the most comforting and simple dishes that has ever been invented and is truly one of my ultimate comfort foods (among others).

Learn more about the history of pasta here.

Try this delicious version of cacio e pepe here at An Italian in My Kitchen

 

Or have some fun with these cacio e pepe crackers

 

ABOUT

The History of Food and Cuisine in North America

The Americas today is extremely diverse in culture, food, traditions, and cuisine. By exploring how and when humans migrated to the Americas and spread throughout the region, a beautiful pattern of ingredients spread across this vast expanse of land and then to the rest of the world.

From the nomadic communities who first travelled across the Bering Strait, to the Eastern Woodland People and the impact of the transatlantic slave trade, the land became dotted with a plethora of wonderful produce. Avocados, tomatoes, potatoes, allspice, black walnuts, and cacao are just a few of the ingredients we enjoy throughout the world. Every ingredient has a journey, every dish has a story, and here is a little introduction to the beginning history of food and cuisine in North America.

The New World is known as one of the last areas in the world to be inhabited by humans. People of Asiatic descent were originally thought to have travelled by land along the Bering Strait (the strait that links the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea) in the North. However, the latest anthropological research has revealed humans may have ventured out before this by boat, travelling along the Pacific shore of what is known as the Kelp Highway somewhere around 15,000-20,000 years ago.

Image as above from worldatlas.com

Originally, the people who first migrated to the Americas were isolated nomadic communities living off megafauna and native food plants. Through either climatic changes or human action, the extinction of around 60 megafauna species dramatically changed the diet and lifestyle of these once-hunter-gatherers. Most of their diets suddenly became reliant on agricultural means and they slowly cultivated and hybridised food crops that are found in every cuisine around the world.

Tribes were spread throughout the Americas, and strong communities and civilisations began to form at centralised trade routes. Canada, as we know it today, was covered in ice for some time and most probably was the last part of the Americas to be inhabited by humans.

The Eastern Woodlands People

The Eastern Woodlands People that settled in the North-Eastern part of America as well as those on the West Coast, formed communities that were sophisticated culturally, politically, and socially. Their diets consisted of wild game and many different plant species. Maple syrup was also discovered in this region and today is one of the most popular indigenous ingredients of America that is consumed worldwide.

Eastern Woodlands People. Credit - Unknown

The tribes that moved throughout North and South America were the Cahokia along the Mississippi River, the Incas in the Peruvian Andes, and the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan, Mexico. The varying locations of these tribes depicted the type of food they consumed whether it be seafood (turtles, fish, crustaceans), meat (bison, other game, possum, turkey), nuts, or berries.

One ancient planting system that provided staple ingredients to the Native American diet all year round was called the ‘Milpa’ or ‘Three Sisters’ crop. The trio of plants grown together provided an entire system of replenishing the soil with nitrogen, encouraging plant growth, allowing it to climb as well as providing shade for the soil, keeping it moist and a deterrent for weeds. The three sisters’ crop was found throughout the Americas and the use of corn, bean, and squash was significant to both the North and South American diets.

The ingredients available to the Native Americans were abundant and the fertile earth ensured a luscious, agriculturally forward, yet varied diet, even before European settlement. Native Americans made nutritionally complete dishes, cooking most ingredients by boiling or roasting over an open fire.

Ingredient Origins in the Americas

Below are some of the ingredients that originated in the various regions of the Americas. This produce spread throughout, ensuring a varied and palatable diet.

North America
Jerusalem artichoke, pumpkin, a variety of squash, beans (black turtle, navy pinto, cranberry), black raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, wild rice, black walnut, bison,  sunflower seeds, turkey, maple syrup, pecans.

Cranberry Beans. Credit @gabriella.claire

Black Rasperries. Credit @Ulvi Safari

Central America and Mexico
Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cacao, corn, allspice, avocados, chillies, bell peppers, and vanilla.

Cacao. @Tetiana Bykovets

South America
Lima beans and other bean varietals, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, quinoa, cashew, peanuts, and cassava.

Potatoes. Credit @Markus Spiske

Tomatoes. Credit @Empreinte

Peanuts. Credit @me !

Corn was used extensively in many Native American dishes such as Sofkee (a dried corn porridge) and a simple version of Succotash (a corn and bean dish). The Native Americans ate well due to the wide variety of ingredients available in both the North and the South. A type of bread was made such as cornbread, cornbread with beans, and fry bread. Squash was used in stews and soups, as was fish that was roasted or fried. Cherokee fish and corn mush are dishes that still exist today, as well as altered versions of baked beans.  

The indigenous Canadian diet included seal, whale, polar bear, buffalo, caribou, and vegetables. It was extremely high in calories to combat the freezing climate, and many ingredients were harvested, dried, and preserved to be eaten in the long winter months. Pemmican (dried meat and berries), maple syrup, and muktuk (dried whale blubber) were all consumed by the indigenous peoples.

The first Europeans in North America were Norsemen (Vikings) of Greenland, settling for a short period in Newfoundland, about 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

The arrival of the Europeans in the late 15th Century had a dramatic effect both on the native people of the Americas as well as on the environmental and culinary landscape. Crops and animals that were brought from the Old World thrived in the New World and vice versa. It was not only the transference of ingredients that changed American cuisine, it was also the people, commodities, and technology that contributed greatly to its evolution.

Soon after the arrival of Christoper Columbus in 1492, the Columbian Exchange was established. It was a global transference of plants, animals, people, technology, and disease between the Old World and the New World and not only impacted the countries directly involved but the whole world both positively and negatively. It changed the people, the landscape, and the climate of the Americas.

Native crops of the Americas such as corn, tomatoes, cassava, potatoes, cacao, and chillies were important ingredients within the exchange and have become staples in many global cuisines of today.

Some of the European crops that were brought over from the Old World such as wheat, rice, spices, citrus, and bananas, thrived and redesigned many dishes and cuisines of the Natives. Unfortunately, with so much movement of crops, animals, and people between the old and new world, diseases were rife. The Native Americans had never been exposed to viruses or bacteria such as smallpox, typhus, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, or cholera. The transference of these diseases was carried through humans and animals and as a result, rapidly diminished the Native American population by around 80-90 percent within the first 150 years.

The first Dutch colony of America was established in 1624. It was known as New Amsterdam which is the area where New York City sits today. Small parts of Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey were also included as part of the New Netherlands, however, it eventually was taken over by the British and became one of the 13 colonies. These British Colonies remained quite traditional in the dishes they cooked, which were typically either boiled or fried. The game was popular and used to make soups, stews, or even preserved or dried, animal fat was used for cooking and corn was an ingredient commonly used. Colonies close to the ocean enjoyed a diet rich in fish and Crustaceans.

New France, was the first colonisation of the French in North America and reflected traditional French fare with eh adaption of climate, availability of ingredients, the necessity to be resourceful, and the hardship of colonial life. As New France was eventually succeeded by British rule, the cuisine became heavily influenced by the English and Irish styles of cooking. Salt-cured meats, and seafood such as mussels, trout, salmon, lobsters, and eel were popular and abundant.

As the Native American population reduced dramatically due to the rapid spread of disease by the Europeans, the fertile expansive land of the New World required more labour for the agricultural industry to flourish. There was a growing need for workers to be placed on commodity plantations, in particular the sugar cane fields, an old-world crop that flourished in the fertile land of America.

Slave Trade
The Atlantic Slave Trade, the largest involuntary migration in history, was the importation of over twelve million African slaves to the New World from the 16th - 19th Century. Most slaves were sent to work in South America and the Caribbean, while only 5% were exported to North America. The slaves in North America worked mainly in the South as labourers on large plantations (cotton, rice, tobacco), small farms, domestic workers (cooks, servants, carers), and drivers.

The Slave Trade. Credit @thelibraryofcongress

Cooks of the household were on call every hour of every day, feeding the household, guests that would drop by, as well as the workers of the house and property. Southern Cuisine began in the kitchens of these enslaved Africans and has evolved to be a historically rich and significant cuisine in America.

Corn was used heavily used in Southern cooking and can be used to make a variety of dishes such as cornbread, grits, dumplings, and even alcohol. Small game meats and innards (chitterlings) were common as well as beef and pork. Other notable ingredients such as Okra, beans, cayenne peppers, and rice also reflected African cooking. Food was still cooked over open fires, or boiled and fried.

 

The cuisine of North America has evolved from simple British cooking and ingredients to an abundant culturally rich one, comprising of dishes that each have their place in time. Each dish or ingredient tells a story of immigration patterns, native food cultures, human adversity and the crossing of cultures from all over the world. The colonisation of America has also blended a variety of cooking techniques that still exist today including grilling meats over an open fire, spit-roasting and cooking root vegetables directly over ashes.