Turn leftover rice into a delicious, warming congee with shrimp and yams

Turn leftover rice into a delicious, warming congee with shrimp and yams

Turn leftover rice into a delicious, warming congee with shrimp and yams

Soup Name:

Shrimp Congee with Fresh Yams and Lettuce

Traditional Chinese Name:

蝦粥 (xiā zhōu)

Nature: Neutral

Taste: Sweet 

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube. 

Want something easy?  Want something delicious?

This is the perfect lunch to make in 30 minutes with leftover rice.  Instead of going the traditional fried rice route (which I usually do), I went with a delicious, warming, and kind of a random mix of ingredients that blended nicely.

The key is the congee base.  I defrosted 10 shelled shrimp using the their creamy heads as the flavour base.  And then added ingredients I found in the fridge that would go nicely.

It was super easy to make and so yummy!  I had about 2 bowls of leftover rice in the fridge, so it was just perfect because I pretty much grazed on it from lunch until dinner!

 

What’s involved?

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 minutes 

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 6 bowls (2 people portion)

Ingredients

  • 10 shelled shrimp, keeping the heads

  • 5 pieces of garlic, diced
  • 1 yam, peeled and cubed
  • Some lettuce (I used half a romaine)
  • Fresh green onions
  • 2 bowls of leftover white rice
  • 7 cups of water
  • Salt to taste

Cooking Instructions

  1. Remove the heads of the shrimp and in your pot, add some oil and diced garlic and saute on medium heat until fragrant
  2. Deshell and devein your shrimp and marinate with a bit of soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper to taste
  3. Add in 7 cups of cold water and cover, allowing that to come to a boil
  4. Once that boils, scoop out the shrimp heads and foam (the garlic will also come with it, which is OK)
  5. Add in your leftover rice and cubed yam.  Cover and reduce to a low-medium heat and let that boil for 15 minutes.
  6. Now add in your shrimp and diced lettuce.  Cover and boil for 5 minutes.
  7. Once it all boils nicely, mix it around and garnish with fresh green onions.
  8. Serve and enjoy!
  9. Salt as needed.

Tips for making this congee:

  • The shrimp heads are key in this congee, which is what creates that delicious congee base
  • I tried to blend ingredients that would go nicely with the shrimp flavour (so you can get creative here).  Carrots, potatoes, or onions would also compliment.  [I had tofu in my fridge and thought about adding that with seaweed, but to be honest, not sure seaweed would go with this blend!]
  • It’s quick boil because the rice is already cooked (which is typically the longest to cook since it’s raw, but that’s why this congee can be made in 30 minutes)
  • Use small, diced cuts for quick boil soups or congee (they cook faster)

For videos, visit us on YouTube. 

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Sweet and sour snow fungus and cucumber salad

Sweet and sour snow fungus and cucumber salad

Sweet and sour snow fungus and cucumber salad

Tea Name:

Sweet and sour snow fungus and cucumber salad (with garlic and red dates and goji berries) in a tart delightful mirin vinegrette dressing

Nature:  Slightly warming (due to the garlic, red dates, and vinegar)

Taste: Sweet and sour

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

Making snow fungus 2-ways the other day for dinner.  Since I was soaking one for my soup, I decided to economize my efforts and soak another to make a delicious, tart and sweet appetizer.

Why not more snow fungus?  This powerhouse Chinese herb is amazing at nourishing the yin in the lungs and helps retain moisture and collagen!  (YEAH, did someone say COLLAGEN?).  LOL.  Yah, it’s known to be the “poor man’s” version of bird’s nest, which helps to keep the skin firm and glowing.  In the end, snow fungus is just a mushroom.

I always keep a stash of these in my pantry now because they are perfect for soups, stews, salads, desserts, and even stir fried!  Seriously, get experimental and try it!

 

What’s involved?
 Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: No cooking needed

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 5 cups (or servings)

Ingredients

The sauce:

 

  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of mirin
  • 1 tablespoon of white vinegar
  • 3 teaspoons of white sugar
Cooking Instructions
  1. Soak the snow fungus in cool water for at least 10 minutes, ensuring it’s fully covered.  You can check out this video on how to prepare snow fungus.
  2. Wash and dice half a cucumber, keeping the skin on
  3. Dice all the garlic
  4. Once the snow fungus is fully bloomed and relatively soft and squishy, using scissors or a knife, remove the hard orange middle (cut as best as you can as this part is tougher to eat)
  5. Dice the snow fungus into bite-sized pieces
  6. Add in all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and give it a good mix, ensuring all the sauce covers all parts of the salad
  7. Chill and serve.  Enjoy!

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Easy 1-2-3 Chicken Congee

Easy 1-2-3 Chicken Congee

Easy 1-2-3 Chicken Congee

Soup Name:

Easy 1-2-3 Chicken Congee (using frozen chicken thighs)

Traditional Chinese Name粥 (zhōu)

Taste:  Savory and sweet

Nature: Slightly warm

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

My daughter… one morning told me she wasn’t feeling well, particularly in the stomach and really wanted congee.  This is why I always keep a few chicken thighs (and other various meats) frozen in my freezer.  It’s for these days where I could use them for a quick 1-2-3 chicken congee, ready in about 2 hours (or more depending on how much notice or time you have).

OH THE TOPPINGS!

The amazing thing about plain congee is how you can have a host of toppings available for any taste, condition, discerning critic (or congee food taster)!

Here are some of the interesting ones I’m using today:

 

  • Preserved sweet and sour cucumbers (these come in jars which you can purchase in the supermarket).  They are slightly sweet and slightly tart and super appetizing with rice or congee!
  • Dried seaweed.  Adds a bit of savory crunch!
  • Kimchi.  I know, it’s not very Chinese of me, but I couldn’t help myself!  It was calling to me!
  • Preserved savory olives.  This is a very Chiu Chou-styled topping and is commonly served with plain white congee.  It’s part of my Chiu Chou background that I have jars and jars of these in my pantry!
  • Fresh green onions.  A staple topping that provides a fresh twist! 

What’s involved?

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 60 mins+

Total time: 65 mins+

Serves: 8 bowls

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of white rice (my kids like using sushi rice for congee sometimes or I blend long grain and sushi rice)

  • 2.5 L of water

  • 6-7 dried scallops or conpoys

  • 2-3 frozen chicken thighs

  • Your fine selection of congee toppings (I have many in my pantry and fridge just because that’s how I roll)

Cooking Instructions

  1. Take out your frozen chicken thighs from the freezer.  No defrost needed.
  2. In your congee or soup pot, add in the rice, frozen chicken thighs, dried conpoys, and water
  3. Boil on high heat for about 20 minutes, or until the water begins to dance with bubbles
  4. Gently stir the pot to ensure that the rice isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pot
  5. At this point, you can reduce the boil to a medium boil (so the water doesn’t spill over) and boil for another 1-2 hours depending on how much time you have.  
  6. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking
  7. Serve, top with your favourite toppings, enjoy!

EQUIPMENT USED

To answer your questions on what equipment I'm using, I've built a section here where you can find and explore what I'm using to make soups.  Ingredients are a little harder, but I will do my best as I source them around.  However, you can always message me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook, and I will reply and try to point you in some direction!  

A great help for fish or small bones in soups, including small ingredients such as barley, fox nuts, spices just to keep everything together.

A MUST HAVE in the kitchen!  Energy saving, cost effective, and perfect for busy chefs!  Check out my article here that explains it.

Another MUST HAVE in the kitchen for soups!  It's so fine that it will scoop off the top oil and foam layer when using meats in your soup!

I use these types of stove top safe tea pots to make most of my herbal teas!

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Japanese Inspired Vinaigrette (for Beef Carpaccio or Salad)

Japanese Inspired Vinaigrette (for Beef Carpaccio or Salad)

Japanese Inspired Vinaigrette (for Beef Carpaccio or Salad)

Sauce Name:

Japanese inspired vinaigrette (for beef carpaccio or salads or as an appetizers)

Nature:  Warm (which is primarily the vinegar)

Taste:  Sour and bitter and slightly sweet

Targets: Liver and stomach

 

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

Yes!  Finally, a sauce!  I’ve been wanting to venture into this space for some time.  There is also huge benefits in understanding the benefits of the foods we consume from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, not only in soups!

This sauce was inspired as a fusion for some boneless beef short ribs that I bought at the Korean supermarket over the weekend.  I also ended up flash frying the meat to get to a medium-rare texture because the kids don’t usually eat raw beef, so this was the compromise!  It turned out amazing! 

You can view the whole video of the dish here, including the sauce (which I think is the hero of the dish!)

 

I substituted the traditional red wine vinegars for sushi vinegar (and white vinegar because the sushi vinegar is sweet and thick) and mirin (could have also used yuzhu, will try next time!) and added half a lemon.  This balance with the brown sugar created a beautiful balance between tart and sweet.  It was truly a masterpiece!

I would suggest to taste test as well to really get to the balance you like! 

What’s involved?

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 8 people as appetizer dish (with 4 pieces each)

Ingredients
  • 32 x pieces of 1 cm thick sliced boneless beef short ribs (use the pieces that are marbling for best effect, the type you use for Korean bbq!)
  • Pre-made Korean snow pear and apple bbq marinade
  • 1 fresh white onion
  • 4 tablespoons of sushi vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of mirin
  • 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
  • 1.5 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • half a lemon
  • fresh green onions as garnish

Note:  This portion makes enough for 2 plates.  I actually used half and kept half for a smoked salmon appetizer

     

    Cooking Instructions
    1. Thinly slice your white onion using a sharp knife (or a slicing machine).
    2. In a mixing bowl, add in your sushi vinegar, mirin, sweet soy sauce, white vinegar, and brown sugar.  Mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved.
    3. In a ceramic bowl, put in the onions and pour the sauce over, completely submerging the onions and then squeeze in half a lemon.
    4. Cover with a wrap and refrigerate for later use
    5. Marinate your beef short ribs with the Korean snow pear and apple marinade for 10 minutes
    6. In a shallow pan, add a bit of oil, turn on high heat and once the pan is sufficiently hot, lay out the beef short ribs and flip immediately in the order you set them down and then remove right away from the pan (it will continue to cook a bit, but will become a beautiful medium rare)
    7. Plate and add your vinaigrette sauce and onions on top and then top with chopped green onions
    8. Serve and enjoy!
    9. EVEN BETTER…. I save a few pieces and left that in the fridge to consume the day after and it was even more amazing served as a cold dish!  Similar to raw beef carpaccio, this medium-rare version was simply sublime!!  My kids loved it!

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    Oh how I love thee, my salted orange!  Let me count the ways…

    Oh how I love thee, my salted orange! Let me count the ways…

    Oh how I love thee, my salted orange! Let me count the ways…

    Tea Name:

    The Salted Orange

    Traditional Chinese Name:

    鹽蒸橙子 (yán zhēng chéngzi)

    Nature:  warm

    Taste:  sweet, salty

    For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

    What?  Salted oranges?

    Let’s start by saying that if you see a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor (and even all the old ladies at the wet mart that I meet), that if you’ve got a cough, you SHOULD NOT be consuming oranges.  Especially, if they are cold and super sweet.  From a TCM perspective, this exasperates the cough even more because it’s sweet and the cold creates excess yin, which makes you cough even more.

    However, there are ways to modify the nature of the orange!  Almost magic, but not quite.  You literally have to increase the temperature of the orange by simply steaming it!  It’s the same principle in how lettuce is a cooling ingredient, but once fried with ginger and garlic, it becomes neutral or even warming. 

    Similarly, you expose the orange to some heat and shift its nature from cool to warm and then add salt to it.  Salt itself, is also a warming ingredient that is salty to taste and softens hardness, eliminates accumulations and dissolves abscesses.  It is amazing for reducing toxic heat, which is normally found with sore throats, and helps reduce swelling, which is also a symptom that sore throats often bring.

    From a western perspective, fresh oranges have ample amounts of vitamin C, but does begin to denature and breakdown at temperatures of 86 degrees Celsius.  However, you can still benefit from these benefits if you soak it in warm water (below 86C) and add salt to it as well.  But the Chinese do love their warm healing tonics and teas!

     

    What’s involved?

    Prep time: 2 mins

    Cook time: 10 mins

    Total time: 12 mins

    Serves: 1 person

    Ingredients

       

      Cooking Instructions
      1. Cut the orange with the flatter side of the orange down so it can sit properly in a shallow bowl
      2. I will use a chopstick to break up some of the orange so the juices can be released prior to steaming, this is optional
      3. Generously sprinkle the salt on top of the orange.  Again, optionally, you can poke the salt directly into the orange.
      4. Begin to boil your steamer or pot
      5. Once your steamer is ready, put your orange into the pot, ensuring it’s not submerged into the water
      6. Cover and steam on medium for 10 minutes
      7. Once done, remove from the steamer and allow it to cool slightly
      8. Using a spoon, break up the orange inside, mixing up the salt and juices and enjoy!

      Alternatively, you can use the microwave to do it, heating it at 2 minute intervals at a time, covered, until your desired internal temperature.  Be sure to mix it around at the end of every cycle to check.  The microwave is a just a bit more inconsistent in its cooking.

      The other option is that you can directly half the orange and share with someone!  My mom’s done this with me and my sisters and have made 4 halves and the whole family could enjoy this.

      The best thing about this is that it’s such a portable recipe!  You can bring it with you camping, you could take it with you on vacation, and the ingredients are so readily available!  It’s literally, a tonic on the go!!

      Try it and let me know how it goes!

      The Q&A (from TikTok)

      A huge thanks to my TikTok community for the engagement on this video.  I’m now answering some of these common questions and answers here.

      Can I also add honey?

      From a TCM perspective, honey is also sweet and may exasperate the cough further and the point of this particular recipe is to really add salt (see above benefits of salt) to neutralize the sweet and really work to soften the sore throat.  If you really want to add honey, do it in small amounts (orange itself is quite sweet already) and do it once it’s cooled to around 60C as any benefits of honey and the degradation of the product.  I don’t add this to boiling teas at all.

      Will it help relieve the sinuses?

      This is not a recipe to help clear sinuses or relieve phlegm and dispel moisture from the body.  Ingredients that will do this include dried tangerine peels, apricot kernals, or barley, to name a few.  A few like this Snow Pears and Chen Pi (Tangerine Peels) for Coughs and Congestion, will also do the trick.  This recipe is really for soothing and healing the sore throat and some cough relief, albeit quite topical.  

      Can I drink this every day?

      Yes, if you’re feeling the sore throat and cough for a few days, you can definitely consume this daily.  The key is that it’s not completely cooling and is warmed enough it doesn’t create excess yin or yang in the body.  The only thing I would caution is the sugar consumption because an orange still does contain sugar, except we’ve neutralized it with salt, but the calories are still there.

      How do I know if it’s working?

      This is the age old question of Traditional Chinese Medicine (and even for any holistic approach to wellness).  Trust.  LOL.  Western medicine is usually more symptom based whereas Traditional Chinese Medicine takes a Confucianism (source: Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine: encouraging the twain to meet).  So long as you keep to the understanding and practice of achieving and restoring balance in the body, mind, and spirit and that everything is connected, it’s working.  You can read up on “Getting Started with TCM in Soups“.

      What’s the best salt for this?

      I’m using kosher salt here, but you can use table salt or Himalayan salt as well.  The point is to be using any type of natural salt to neutralize the sweet taste (and nature), but the calories as the same. 

       

      THANK YOU TO MY COMMUNIty (AS ALWAYS!)

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      Learn more about how these types of teas and soups can help improve your overall blood circulation and how you actually know that it's working?

      It's not a perfect science (still working to perfect it), but I'd say the methodology and thinking is sound 🙂

      Would love to hear your thoughts!

       

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      Simple Roasted Chicken Congee

      Simple Roasted Chicken Congee

      Simple Roasted Chicken Congee

      Soup Name:

      Roasted (leftover) Chicken Congee

      Traditional Chinese Name:

      烤雞粥 (kǎo jī zhōu)

      What’s the Best Chinese Comfort Food? Hot Homemade Congee!

      When it comes to leftovers, congee with meats is the ultimate!  The best are with left over roasted chicken (even Costco bought ones are great!), left over turkey (from Christmas or Thanksgiving), left over roasted pork (from Chinese banquets), left over roasted duck or goose (which you can get from Chinese stores) are a few to name.

      The amazing thing about these meats is that they store really nicely in the freezer for a few months, so when you feel like congee, you can even use them frozen dropped into boiling rice water.

       

       

      What’s involved?

      Prep time: 10 mins

      Cook time: 40 mins

      Total time: 50 mins

      Serves: 6 bowls

      Ingredients

      • Your leftover roasted meats (I will portion about one quarter of chicken for 2 cups of rice as not to overwhelm the dish with too much meat, this is completely up to you!)

      • 2 cups of rice (your choice, for this one I used Japanese sushi rice)
      • 3 L of water
      • 1 handful of dried scallops
      • 5 fresh garlic

      Toppings (optional):

      • chopped raw carrots (for crunch)
      • preserved olives
      • chopped fresh green onions

       

      Cooking Instructions

      1. Prepare your meats by either cutting up or peeling off the bones.  I will remove the meat from the bones to make it easier to remove the bones from the congee later.  
      2. OPTIONAL:  If you want, you can blanch some meats in a pot of boiling water first to render some of the fat off, such as duck and goose
      3. Add the meats to a pot
      4. Add in 2 cups of rice (your choice)
      5. Add in your herbs 
      6. Add in 3L of water
      7. Cover your pot, boil on medium high heat until it boils (at this point, I will take an oil strainer and remove any debris, foam from the top of the congee before it cooks (while the water is still separate from the rice)
      8. Reduce to a medium boil (still covered) for 30 minutes
      9. At this point, I will use chopsticks and physically remove all the chicken bones fro the congee
      10. Serve and top with your favourite congee toppings!

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