GRANDMA CONJI FULL

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese. They also have a similar phrase in old Korean but the first two characters are reversed - just let me know if you want that version when you place your order. Note that Japanese people would easily be able to identify the original Chinese form of that Kanji anyway. If you want this specifically Japanese version, just click on the Kanji image to the right (instead of the button above). Japanese use a slight variation on the last Kanji. 祖先崇拜 is the kind of wall scroll that a filial son or daughter in China or Japan would hang to honor their ancestors who paved the way for the new generation. The last two characters mean adore, worship, adoration, or admiration. The first two characters mean ancestors or forefathers.

This can refer to anyone from your grandparents and beyond. Like swallowing hot mouthfuls of nothing that light a candle in the stomach, filling it with a gentle warmth that lingers.祖先崇拜 means 'Appreciation and honor of your ancestors'. When my tastebuds are dulled, there’s a soothing blandness to congee, primarily satisfying in its gloopy texture on the tongue - as if I’m eating baby food again - and its solid comfort. I only make it when I’m truly sick or, sometimes simply sick for home, although whether that longing is for my mother or grandmother or just the feeling of being cared for as a child, I don’t know. Here was the humble, homey bowl - and it was in vogue.īut I prefer the plain, two-ingredient, at-home version whenever I have a craving for congee, which I confess is almost never.

GRANDMA CONJI FULL

The place was popular with the district’s plethora of university students I saw tables full of people younger and cooler than me gossiping and laughing over large vessels of congee served with seafood, meat, preserved vegetables, sauces, and so much more. A few years ago in Beijing, I met up with a cousin at a restaurant specializing in congee. There are more recent takes on the age-old dish, too, as congee has reached new heights of trendiness in recent years, appearing on the menus of hip restaurants in both China and the U.S. You can make it with stock, top it with pork floss, add a century egg or a deep-fried youtiao cruller. There are many other ways to eat congee, varying depending on the cuisine, geographic region, or just one’s own tastes. Congee could last for half a week we poured in a little water each time and boiled it anew, further breaking down the rice until by the third day or so it was even more glutinous, a glorious transfiguration of texture. Sometimes she would add tapioca or sago pearls and sugar to taste, turning the dish into a dessert of sorts. It’s just rice and water (usually one cup of rice to four or five cups of water, depending on one’s preference for watery or thick) simmered for at least 25 minutes (depending on one’s level of impatience). That’s how I’ve always known it my grandmother, who lived with us for years while I was growing up, would make congee on the regular, but particularly during the winter or when any of us felt ill.

Low-effort and gentle on the stomach, it’s embraced as a go-to for belly aches, colds, or days of general discomfort. This is, of course, congee: the porridge - also referred to as jook, zhou (my name for it, having a Northern Chinese mother), or myriad other names - that likely originated in China but is eaten in many Asian countries.Ĭongee has a history as a famine food - rice stretched to last with the addition of extra water - and, more commonly nowadays, the ideal sick dish. Something magical happens to rice if left to boil for too long in an excess of water: The grains break down, absorbing the liquid and softening, creating a one-pot wonder of thick, stodgy starch that’s as fragrant as it is warming.

Grandma conji