Congee with pork and preserved eggs is a perennial classic Chinese comfort food that I will never tire of. However, do note that preserved eggs are an acquired taste as well and most Western palates might not be used to it at first, these are preserved duck eggs that are black in colour with an almost greenish looking yolk and are sold cooked. The texture of the white is almost jelly-like and the greenish yolk is a little My mom and I both love to have these preserved eggs with pickled ginger, very delicious!
Anyways, I woke up extra early today to go to the Asian grocery store and my efforts did not go to waste - I bought some freshly fried Chinese crullers (essentially fried dough) or otherwise known as 'you diao' or 'yao char kwai' (油炸鬼) in Mandarin and Cantonese respectively.
I served my congee with a lot of green onions and cut-up 'yao char kwai' on the side!
There is an interesting tale about the origins of this popular Chinese snack - translated from Cantonese, 'yao char kwai' literally means deep-fried ghosts! There was a very famous and valiant general during the Song Dynasty by the name of Yue Fei (岳飛) and as with a lot of righteous heros, his was a tragic story. His demise was brought about by an evil Chinese court official by the name of Qin Hui who created a plot together with his evil wife and manipulated the weak Chinese emperor into ordering the wrongful execution of General Yue Fei. Hence, legend has it that the evil couple met an oily fate in hell where they were deep-fried as ghosts over and over again to pay for their sins against the legendary General. I still remember my dad telling us this story when we were little and we would giggle while nibbling on the crispy and fragrant cruellers. That is why, he said the Chinese crullers are always sold in pairs, they are essentially two dough strips stuck in the middle.
Well, interesting origins aside, Chinese crullers make the perfect accompaniment to congee. Apart from congee, I also love dipping the crullers into soy milk or red bean dessert soup. Although I did manage to catch some freshly fried crullers, they are of course not as tasty as the ones I'm used to in Malaysia but they do make reasonably acceptable subsitutes!
For more congee recipes on Tastes of Home, please click below:
Spare Ribs Congee Recipe
Chicken Congee Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice, soak for 1 hour (smoother texture of congee)
9 cups water
1/2 pound of spare ribs
1/2 pound of lean pork, (I used cubes) - marinate with Chinese rice wine and salt
2 preserved eggs
4 slices fresh ginger
4 stalks green onions, sliced thinly
1 pair of Chinese crullers (optional) - sliced
Ground pepper to taste
Salt to taste (you can use soy if you wish)
Dash of sesame oil
Method:
Boil the soaked rice, water, ginger, spare ribs and lean pork cubes together in a large pot. Once the mixture boils, turn the heat to medium low and boil for about 90 minutes, checking occasionally. After the end of 90 minutes, remove the spare ribs and discard. Shell and rinse off the preserved eggs, cut into sixths and place in pot. Boil over low heat for another 5 minutes. Add the seasoning ingredients to taste and after spooning into serving bowls, sprinkle with the cut green onions and the sliced Chinese crullers.

13 comments:
I lurve congee with preserved eggs... a dash of sesame oil and pepper perfect the congee. Make me craving for a good bowl of congee now :(
Jen, your moi looks delicious. I am drooling!
hey allie - welcome to my kitchen! hehe oh yes, i always need pepper and sesame oil for congee and GINGER hehe
VG - thanks girl!! do u speak teochew? coz u keep saying moi hahah
that's teochew dialect right?
This is my favourite congee! Yummy...
Just to share, in Hong Kong, our version more often comes with salted lean pork. And it is said by most Chinese that with the century egg and salted pork in the congee, it will help reduce 'heat' (like having a throat-ache syndrome) inside one's body. Share this perception?
Dora - haha I will FEDEX some to you though I prefer UPS haha
THK - yeah, thats why I marinated with salt but I dont know where I can get salted pork here :) thanks for sharing..yes I'm Chinese so I believe in the 'heaty' conditions..salt is great for sore throat!
This is my favorite congee! I will have to try to make it for DH some time...hopefully this time will be a success!
Interesting story on those chinese doughnuts. Now I'll never look at them the same way again!
milkshake - thanks! im sure yours will turn out great :)
SIS - I'm glad you enjoyed the story hehe
Oh yum. I just found this site, and I love your congee recipe and other recipes. Makes me homesick for my mom's cooking! Where did you pick up your you-diao from in SD? I've been searching for good you-diao.
i like tis "pi dan zhou" ..my fav !!
kirbie - hey I bought these at Ranch 99 but u gotta go in the morning if not, they get stale pretty quick, and I wont recommend the you tiao they sell in the frozen section - they taste of a yucky oily smell. These you tiao that I used are only reasonably acceptable (when fresh!) hehe..so depends on how developed your palate for you tiao is! :)
faye - thanks for stopping by! I love your name btw :)
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