Ingredient And Preparation

4 lb Beef shin with bones or 2-medium oxtails, cut up.
1 md Onion, unpeeled
5 Slices fresh ginger
1 Piece star anise
1 t Salt
2 1/2 tb Chinese fish sauce
1 Bundle medium Chinese-vermicelli
Boiling water
1/2 lb Leftover cooked sirloin-(or beef tenderloin or-eye chuck), thinly sliced
3 Scallions, chopped
Fresh cilantro sprigs
Pepper
Fresh chiles, sliced

Direction

Boil beef (with bones) or oxtails in 3 qts cold water.
Skim off foam and fat. Cover and simmer for 4 hours.
Broil onion until flesh is soft, turning often. Peel.
Add onion, ginger, anise, salt, and fish sauce to beef
broth just before it has finished simmering.
Also just before beef broth finishes simmering, drop
vermicelli into a pot of boiling water. Cook 8
minutes, remove from water, rinse in cold water, and
drain. Divide vermicelli into three equal portions and
place in 3 individual serving bowls.
Divide beef into 3 equal portions and place on top of
vermicelli in the bowls. Garnish each bowl with
scallions and 2 or 3 fresh cilantro sprigs.
Strain broth, reserving beef and flavorings. Pour one
cup broth over contents of each bowl. Sprinkle with
pepper and chiles. Serve immediately. Reserved beef,
flavorings, and extra broth can be eaten separately.

It’s been raining for weeks now in San Francisco, and this weather can really bring you down. It’s times like this that you want to just curl up on the couch with a good book, a soft blanket, and some comfort food.

Being Chinese, my comfort food of choice is of course, PORRIDGE. My mom always made porridge for me as a kid. When I was sick, I got porridge. When I was feeling down, I got porridge. When I flunked gym class, I got porridge. Making me porridge was like my Mom’s way of saying, everything will be ok. Porridge can cleanse your system, it’s easy to eat and digest, and it is nutritious too!

So if your boyfriend just dumped you for that whore he calls his secretary, or you got fired from work for making copies of your butt afterhours, or you just caught a glimpse of what’s left of your retirement funds, then make yourself some porridge and you’ll feel better.

I added some green onions for presentation...

So here it is, my mom’s porridge recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup rice
• 3-4 cups water (may use chicken/beef/veggie broth)
• 2 pieces boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut to thin slices (you may also use beef or pork)
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 dash white pepper (according to your taste)
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. First wash the rice, like you normally would before cooking it. If you don’t normally wash rice, don’t worry – it’s simple. You just put it into a big bowl (a medium-sized pot will do), then use water to rinse it 3 times. Rub it with your hands, and drain out most of the water.
2. Then leave it in a bowl soaking in 1 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt. (I usually let this sit for at least an hour, because it helps the rice cook faster, but if you are in a hurry, then by all means, go at it.)
3. Marinate the cut up meat with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, white pepper, and oyster sauce.
4. Boil 3 cups of water on the stove, and add in the meat and the rice once the water is boiling. Once boiling, turn to medium, and leave the lid ajar so it doesn’t boil over. (I find the easiest clean up method is to use a non stick pot that only fills up at most halfway with all the ingredients inside)
5. Stir contents occasionally to make sure everything is uniform in the pot. If your porridge looks to thick for your liking, then just add some boiling water to the pot. When the porridge is consistent and you can no longer make out the individual rice grains, then the porridge is done (usually about an hour at medium heat).
6. You may serve plain, with green onions, white pepper, Chinese donut, or anything else you may find that meshes well with rice.

This is a very basic and simple recipe. Once you have mastered the simple porridge, you can start adding more things to your porridge like preserved eggs, mushrooms, and whatever else you fancy. I find that you can’t go wrong with this recipe. (Well, except this one time my Granny used the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving to make porridge, and let’s just say it did not comfort me).

Enjoy!

_Stella_