-=> Quoting Carol Shenkenberger to Nancy Backus on 01-11-07  15:45 <=-

 CS> Yeah, I stuck to pretty normal things when you get down to it.  Squid
 CS> may have  been a little wierd then (I was in California and long before
 CS> I moved to Japan) but harmless.

We like squid...  :)

 CS> Squid is a *very* common dish here for us.  It's the cheapest 'meat'
 CS> we can get 
 CS> so tends to show up 3 times a week .  Maybe more because it gets
 CS> added as a  dabble to congee (a rice soup, you may know it as Juk). 

I know congee from having dim sum at Chinese restaurants.  One of my
favorites.  :)  I noticed that your recipe doesn't have any ginger in
it.  That is part of what I always associate with congee.

 CS> Congee normally has at least 15 different things besides the rice
 CS> porridge (rice made somewhat between soup and stew thickness with
 CS> broth instead of water).  Japanese 'congee' is called 'rice porridge'
 CS> here.  The name doesnt do it justice.  It's great stuff. 

What I've had usually only has one or two things beyond the basic
porridge, the choice is often chicken, shrimp, beef, pork or 1000-year
egg... or some combo of them.  The place we go to locally now has the
last two together.

(Recipe snipped)

 CS> Now that above is 'Americanized' which means it tastes just fine and
 CS> is close  enough but doesnt use much that you'd find hard to get.  The
 CS> real one uses  Dashi (a fish/seaweed stock that is mild and not all
 CS> that 'fishy').  The  americanized version adds a bit of crumbled
 CS> seaweed sheet to make up for not  making it with dashi.  If the idea of
 CS> that wierds you out, or you just arent  sure you'd like it and want to
 CS> play safe, omit it. 

I still have a box of Dashi powder in my cupboard...  

 CS> It's a sort of 'kitchen sink' or 'scrap' soup but the leftovers in
 CS> Japan are  different.

I guess I'd never thought of congee as a "scrap" soup before...
although, when I make my own version of it, I usually start with
leftover chicken and rice with added chicken stock as a base.  Basic
version just adds slivers of ginger root (lots of them), and simmers to
a nice thick soup.  If I get fancy, I might add shrimp to it.  I suppose
I should explain that when I make chicken and rice, I cook the chicken
and rice together either in chicken broth or in water with bouillon
added, just enough liquid to the rice that it all cooks into the rice
and makes its own "sauce".  If I'm not planning for congee next (or even
sometimes anyway), I add frozen broccoli florets just as the liquid is
almost all absorbed, and I'm taking it from simmer to "stand".  

ttyl        neb

... One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor

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