Nunu's Kitchen - Congee and pan fried udon

Food I make!


I felt sorry for the pookster for having to wait on me hand and feet for the entire week so last night I got off my fat ass and made dinner. My throat hurts like a mofo so about the only thing I could eat without screaming was congee. Congee is essentially rice gruel, it is thinner than porridge and due to its watery consistency and ease in consumption, is generally the food of choice for the sickly and the young.
Making congee is hella easy, depending on how thick or thin you want your congee, approx 1/4 - 1/2 cup of rice to 1 litre of water will produce enough for 2 persons. Please do not do as the pookie once did, he reckoned that since he can eat 3 cups of rice normally, he should make congee with the same amount of rice. Uncooked rice expands ridonkulously, the more water you cook it in, the more it'll expand. Therefore, do not use your regular measurements of rice.
It's best to soak your rice overnight as it cuts down overall cooking time.

Congee

You will need:

1/4 cup pre-soaked white rice
1 litre of water
salt to taste

La Methode

• Throw the rice and water into a rice cooker
• Press cook
• Switch off rice cooker when rice is puffed out and water is slightly viscous (approx 1-1 1/2hrs)
• Season to taste

No seriously, that's it. Of course this is the boring plain version of congee, but there's all sorts of other exciting things you could add to it like, salted pork bones, fish, chicken, liver, kidneys, thousand year eggs, all those yummy things you see in Fear Factor...xD

We added some left over roasted chicken.

Pan Fried Udon

You will need:

Udon.

Marinated meat of your choice, I used chicken.

Veggie of your choice, I used snow peas. Washed and peeled if necessary.

Vegetable oil

Oyster sauce.

La Methode:

• Marinate your meat (does that only sound dirty to me because I'm a sad sad person?xD). I used the typical, oil, soy sauce, sugar, salt, ginger and corn flour marinade. I call this typical because I swear meat in any Chinese dish is pretty much marinated this way, with some small variations. There's really no specific measurements, everything is eyeballed. If you want, you could premix the marinade, and taste it before you put your meat in to make sure it doesn't taste like crap or whatever.

• While your meat is marinating (heehee!xD), blanch your veggies. In other words, boil some water, chuck your veggies in, let it sit in the water for a minute or so, then remove and soak them in some ice water. This allows your veggies to keep their colouring during the cooking process and also shortens cooking time.

• Oil your pan and cook your meat until it's around 80% cooked and has a bit of seared colouring. Remove and set aside.

• Wipe your pan with a paper towel. Add approx 2 cups of water to the pan, when it starts to boil, add your udon and allow it to cook until it starts to separate.

• Drain and briefly run udon under cold water, this prevents the udon from over cooking and becoming sticky.
• Add about 1tbsp of vegetable oil into the pan and happily poke your udon around the pan until it is coated with the oil.
• Add oyster sauce.

• Stir fry the noodles in the oyster sauce for approx 1 min.
• Add meat and veggies. Cook for another minute or until meat is fully cooked.

• Eat

And that is how you make a lazy meal fit for a person with suspected glandular fever, or any other illness for that matter.

Fin.