Tag Archives: Congee

Asian Food Trip – Hong Kong – Part 2

March 27, 2017 7:51 am , Leave a Comment , Winnie N

One of the best things when travelling with people who know the place is their recommendation on where to eat. Since my mom goes to Hong Kong every year, she has either tried or heard of somewhere good to eat. She doesn’t use computers or any fancy restaurant apps. She just knows from being there and talking to her friends to find out where to go.

I, on the other hand, rely on technology to find places to eat. I actually discovered the Openrice website and app while searching for restaurants in Hong Kong. This app might be better than Yelp because it’s what locals use to search for restaurant recommendations. It’s actually great because it’s in both English and Chinese. So you can match up the Chinese characters from your app to the restaurant if the sign is in Chinese only and you don’t read Chinese 🙂 .

Aberdeen Fishball & Noodles Restaurant (香港仔魚蛋粉) is one of the places that we stumbled upon when travelling around in Mong Kok. There are many locations around and it seems like some locations are better than others. The reason we went in was because my mom knows that it’s one of the popular chain places. This place is famous for their fish ball soup noodles.

Fish Ball Noodles – Don’t remember being spectacular but the fish broth was pretty tasty. The broth is made with water chestnuts and dry bean curd sticks hence the milky white broth. The homemade chili oil goes great with this dish.

Fish Ball Noodles

Sei Kee Congee (西記粥店) is one of the places we go back to every time we visit Hong Kong. There seems to be three locations but we always go to the one on Prince Edward Road. It’s a hole in the wall and the first place my dad took us to when my husband went to Hong Kong the very first time. This place is famous for their “fresh boiled” congee (生滾粥) which means they cook all the ingredients as you order them. My husband has fond memories of this place especially the minced beef congee—his all-time favourite Memorable Dish. My favourite congee to order in Hong Kong is the Boat Congee (艇仔粥). It has a mix of different ingredients but mostly seafood, hence the name “boat”. This congee is quintessentially Hong Kong and every restaurant makes it slightly different.

Minced Beef and Boat Congee – Just like how I remember them. Standard taste like all other congee places I had but very hot and fresh.

Youtiao (Chinese fried cruller) and Cheung Fun (rice noodle roll) – I don’t remember seeing them making these in-house. They taste ok, nothing spectacular.

Minced Beef and Boat Congee (right), Youtiao (Chinese fried cruller) and Cheung Fun (rice noodle roll) (left)

When travelling to the same place more than once, we tend to go back to the same restaurants over and over again. The food might not be the best but we tend to go back anyways. I think it’s because it brings back nostalgic travel memories for us. Sometimes it’s not about the food, but it’s about the company.

Read in the series:

Asian Food Trip – Hong Kong – Part 1
Asian Food Trip – Hong Kong – Part 3

Posted in: Places Visited, Special Meals , Tagged: cheung fun, congee, fish ball, Hong Kong, noodles, youtiao

Century Egg and Pork Congee
(皮蛋瘦肉粥)

January 11, 2016 8:51 am , Leave a Comment , Winnie N

Congee is a comfort food that many Asians grew up eating. It’s a rice porridge that is typically served for breakfast or lunch if you accompany it with other heartier foods such as noodles. You’ll get full pretty fast if you’re eating congee but you’ll get hungry pretty soon too because it’s liquidy. It’s also a great meal to eat when you’re feeling sick because it’s warm and nourishing. Congee is like North American’s chicken soup.

I’m sure a lot of Chinese children grew up eating this Memorable Dish whether they grew up in Asia, North America or any other part of the world. If they are able to buy century eggs, their moms or grandmothers would’ve made them this congee when they were children.

My mother uses a couple of Chinese ingredients that may not be common to some. So if you can’t find them or don’t want to use them, it’s OK. One ingredient is conpoy (dried scallop) because it gives the congee a better taste. You won’t find good quality conpoy at your Chinese grocery store. We usually buy it from a Chinese dried seafood shop (海味店). She also mixes dried bean curd sheet (腐竹) with the rice before boiling it.

At first, my boys didn’t seem to like congee very much. Every time we had it at my mom’s house, they would only eat a few spoonfuls. They ate more of the side dishes of noodles and Chinese cruller. For them, congee equates Chinese cruller; congee is blasphemous without it. As time goes by, they started getting second bowls of congee! I wonder if it’s because of the crunchy Chinese cruller they love dipping the congee into or their taste suddenly evolved into a higher level of adult sophistication.

I’m sure this Memorable Dish brings back childhood memories for a lot of Chinese families. I remember my grandmother making it for us when we were kids and now my mother makes it for us and my kids. When my kids grow up I will teach them how to make this dish for their family with the hopes that they will continue the tradition of congee cooking for their loved ones.

Century Egg and Pork Congee
(皮蛋瘦肉粥)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Serving Size: 6-8

Ingredients

1 pound Lean Pork, cut into 2 big pieces
2 tsp Salt
1 Century Egg (cut in half)
1 cup Rice
2 slices of Ginger
16 cups Water
3 pieces of Conpoy (Dried Scallop) (optional)
1/2 cup Dried Bean Curd Sheet, crushed up (optional)
1 sliced Green Onion for garnish
White Pepper & Salt or Soy Sauce to taste

Preparation

The night before, coat pork pieces with salt and marinate in the fridge.
If using conpoy, soak them in water to reconstitute it.
On the day of making the congee, rinse rice until the water is almost clear.
In a large bowl, mix 1/2 century egg, rice and dried bean curd sheet (if using) together. Set aside.
After conpoy has been softened, break pieces up with a fork or by hand.
In a large pot, put 12 cups of water, pork pieces, ginger slices, and conpoy (if using). Bring everything to a boil.
Once it’s boiled, skim off scum and boil for another 15 minutes.
Put rice mixture into the boiling liquid and once it’s boiled, turn down to medium to medium high heat.
The liquid should be in a rolling boil state.
Keep the pot lid slightly open so the congee won’t boil over,
Cook congee for 15 minutes and add the additional 4 cups of water.
Cook congee for approximately 45 minutes more.
Check and stir the pot periodically to make sure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom as it thickens.
Once you boil it to the consistency of your liking, the rice should be broken down by now. Turn off heat.
Take the big pork pieces out of the pot and shred it with a fork or by hand.
Cut the other half of the century egg into small pieces.
Put the shredded pork and century egg back into the pot of congee and mix.
Serve in bowls and garnish with green onions, white pepper and salt or soy sauce to taste.