OK I'll admit that when I was reporting live from Malaysia, I didn't give a glowing review of congee. The primary culprit was a salted duck egg, which is essentially a duck egg that has been cured in brine for two weeks or more. Sounds lovely, right? Hand me one of those with those pickled pigs feet. Anyway, to me the egg looked like a hard boiled chicken egg, so I popped it in my mouth - my tongue wanted to return it as quickly as it had entered. It was like uber salty rubber.
When I told my friend/co-worker (Trevor ... yes, the same Trevor of Durian fame) this a day or two later, he laughed and told me that I wasn't supposed to put the whole egg in my mouth at once. Thanks for the news flash. See, he is in "the know" because he and his girlfriend (Zhuhua) have congee (or rice soup as it is sometimes called) nearly every weekend for breakfast. I was willing to try it again, if he said I did it wrong. And Trevor and Zhuhua were eager to defend their breakfast. So they were kind enough to make a batch and bring it into work ... along with all the fixins' ... and let me tell you, this ain't no salad bar at Big Boys.
When I told my friend/co-worker (Trevor ... yes, the same Trevor of Durian fame) this a day or two later, he laughed and told me that I wasn't supposed to put the whole egg in my mouth at once. Thanks for the news flash. See, he is in "the know" because he and his girlfriend (Zhuhua) have congee (or rice soup as it is sometimes called) nearly every weekend for breakfast. I was willing to try it again, if he said I did it wrong. And Trevor and Zhuhua were eager to defend their breakfast. So they were kind enough to make a batch and bring it into work ... along with all the fixins' ... and let me tell you, this ain't no salad bar at Big Boys.
It starts with the congee. As I said, it's rice that has been cooked in extra water for an extended time. Also thrown in there are scallions and pork. While I prefer my pork in other forms for breakfast (say bacon), I guess as long as you have it, all is good. And oh yeah, that's a pot on a portable burner. Dedication baby. Defending congee is not like convincing me Frosted Flakes are grrrrrrrrrrr-eat. I think from the picture you get a good idea of what the consistency is like - after all, they do call it rice soup. But let's get into the fixings; the raisins to our oatmeal if you will.
First up we have salty spicy shredded radish. Crunchy but not dry. Salty? Absolutely.
Fermented tofu. What? You don't eat fermented tofu? It has the consistency of extra soft tofu and a spicy-sour taste. You read that right. It's difficult to describe. Definitely not something to be eaten by itself. I can't imagine anyone ever saying "You know what would really be good with this Pepsi right now? Some fermented tofu." The answer is "No". But it works when blended into the congee. Similar to how that ragin' cajun hot sauce that melts hairs out of your nostrils when you take a whif works so well in that three alarm chili. Just give me a little rope here.
The eggs! Two of them. Very different. Let's get to the one on the left first which is the salted duck egg. It's packaged like that. What's even better is the nutrition facts are on the back.
The trick, as is now clear to me, is to cut it into small pieces, put it in the congee and take small bits. No popping whole pieces. On to the right egg ... and what I think is the star of the show (drum roll please):
Don't adjust your computer monitor. That's really what the inside of the egg looks like. Dark. Dark as night. I give you the fermented duck egg (or the thousand year egg). It's a duck egg that has been covered in a mixture of salt, lime, and clay and left in the ground for several months before deemed "edible". Wild right?
The insides are hard. What is considered the yolk is now a moldy green color while the "whites" are a translucent brown. The taste? Ready for this? Like nothing. Given their gelatin-like consistency, it is like eating jello where someone left out the fruit flavored sugar packet. Seriously. I don't know how you can leave something in the ground for months and it has no taste - then again I haven't tried it within anything else in the ground, and probably won't for the foreseeable future - but it works.
The egg is diced and typically added when the congee is prepared, rather than as a topping.
Separately, the toppings are nothing special (other than unique to this food fan) - much like the cast of Seinfeld - but when they come together, it is magical. The salty duck egg (along with everything else) was consumed in moderation. The result was a delicious breakfast! Congee has been redeemed in my eyes.Thanks to Trevor and Zhuhua for preparing and sharing ... and for convincing me that congee should be considered in the discussion of the breakfasts of champions.
