Chicken or Pork Congee Soup... Yeeum!

I've been promising to put our recipe for this delicious soup up, for ages. Picture to follow, sorry. Have to make some first.

 

To make the soup, firstly you need to make our Amazing Chicken Stock:

• Skin a chicken (cook skin for the Magpies if you want), more than fill with cold water.
• Add: chopped or shredded or grated: onion (brown with skin) / carrot / good hunk of ginger / celery / garlic / whatever.
• Teaspoon-ish: turmeric / mango powder / fenugreek seeds. 1 cinnamon stick / few green cardamom / coupla black cardamom / few cloves / maybe some curry powder.
• The husband adds a tablespoon of soy sauce and a bit of fish sauce but I don't. I've not done the taste test to see if it shows up.
• When your concoction begins to boil, turn to a good simmer for exactly 25 minutes.
• Remove chicken and de-bone as soon as it's cool enough.
• Return bones and simmer for between 1 and 4 hours depending on the book you've read on the topic. We usually let it go for at least two.
• Eat the most delicious chicken you'll have tasted in a long while, with a bit of soy, in sandwiches / salads / stir fry's etc.

Strain after the further time and decant to use for the soup and for all of your cooking. We do this every week, so our cooking has that extra flavour from the start. The magpies see me at the bus stop and fly off to our house because they know the hubby will be up for their breakfast.

 

Congee Soup

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely cut
• about 300g of minced pork
• 2 litres of your stock
• 2-3 inches of grated ginger (a good amount)
• 1 small chilli, 1/2 if it's hot
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3/4 cup rice
• 2 dessertspoons white sugar
• 2 leaves of sage
• lemon or lime juice
• spring onions

Method:

• Saute onions until brown
• add ginger and garlic and brown
• add mince and mash about until browned and separated
• add everything else and stir in for half a minute
• add stock lastly, stir to get the goody's off the bottom

Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with half a lemon or lime squeezed on top, and some spring onions.