Thursday 29 March 2007

Congee and Grandma's spare ribs



*The not-so-pretty picture doesn't do the dish any justice. I used to hate congee for the very simple reason that my mum always made me eat it every time I was ill. Strange enough, now that I don't live at home any more, I've learnt to appreciate the healing power of congee. When I'm feeling a little bit under the weather, nothing is more comforting than a bowl of steaming hot congee with lots of chopped coriander and spring onions.




*The marinade using for the spareribs was inspired by grandma's marinade for her 'special variety meat', as she calls it and also by SimCooks.
I only modified it a little bit by adding soysauce to the mixture instead of having just five spice powder and salt. Basically it's a mixture of 1tsp minced garlic +2tbsp soysauce + 1tbsp sugar + pinch salt + 2tsp five spice powder. When D asked me what five spice powder contained, I couldn't give him an answer as I honestly don't know. I only know that it's the magic ingredient that gives certain Chinese food the very distinct smell.
I can't wait till we go on holiday this year. Last time we stuffed ourselves too much in Hong Kong that I gained 2kg by the time we got back. Oh food, glorious food.

2 comments:

Gazard7 said...

I used to work in Vietnamese restaurant for a month and I love Vietnamese food, especially beef noodle, spring roll & fresh roll.

Are these Vietnamese dishes too?

Hedgehog said...

Oh really?
I think congee is a popular dish anywhere in South East Asia. The spareribs are more Chinese than Vietnamese I would say.