SPOONS said:My son age 5 had an accident yesterday where he fell on
his face and hit his front teeth. The doctor said he has
to be on soft food for quite some time. He mentioned that
he can have ice cream, jello, pudding & soup. I thought of
mashed potatoes, apple sauce, banana smoothie & yogurt.
I'm looking for a variety of foods since he'll get bored
with the same old thing. Can you suggest some foods?
If he's a bit adventurous you can easily cook up some rice
porridge, known a Congee (Chinese) or Jook (Korean). I've
had friends with dental troubles who have lived on the
stuff...it can be made savory or sweet, you can make it with
meat, vegetables, whatever is at hand. You can serve it up
like oatmeal with maple syrup, cream, pureed fruit....
You can make it easily in crockpot....
A quick google came up with several representative examples:
tinyurl.com2lny4Open ↗
December 31, 2003 Recipe: Jook (from the _New York Times_)
Time: At least 2 1/2 hours
1 cup short-grain rice 2 cups chicken stock, preferably
homemade, or water 1 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and
roughly chopped
1/4 pound slab bacon, optional Soy sauce or salt to taste
2/4 cup crispy cooked bacon, minced, optional
3/4 cup minced scallions
4/2 cup roasted peanuts, optional
Sesame oil for drizzling, optional.
5. Wash rice, and put it in a stock pot with chicken stock
or water. Place over high heat until stock boils, then
add about 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, and turn heat
to low. Partly cover pot, simmer for about 1 1/2 hours,
stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary
(probably about 2 cups more).
6. Add ginger and slab bacon, and simmer for an hour more
or so. Jook should have a porridgelike consistency. If
it becomes very thick, add water. When done, jook will
be soupy and creamy, like loose oatmeal.
7. Remove slab bacon, and serve jook in individual bowls.
Season with salt or soy sauce, then garnish with minced
bacon, scallions and peanuts. Drizzle with sesame oil
if desired.
Yield: 6 servings
e-cookbooks.netvjje0105.htmOpen ↗
From China, Hangover Help
By MARK BITTMAN
I first encountered jook in Hong Kong at dawn after a very
long night. I was steered to an anonymous little place,
where, I am quite sure, I was not the only person with a
headache. It was there that I discovered that this savory
Chinese rice porridge was among the world's best
breakfasts, especially after a night of indulgence.
Addiction, or at least dedication, followed, and I soon
ate jook, also known as congee, in San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Vancouver and New York.
It is transcendent stuff. You might think of it as Chinese
risotto, though infinitely less pretentious. It is
delightfully creamy, forgiving in its preparation and
variable beyond belief.
Jook originated as poor people's food. In its most
elemental form, it is a relatively small amount of rice -
usually short grain, and sometimes mixed with a bit of
glutinous rice - cooked with a large amount of water. It
is then seasoned with ginger, scallions and whatever else
is on hand.
In restaurants, the variations can take up an entire page.
You see jook cooked with bacon or Chinese sausage, with
whole or ground pork, with fish or fish balls, with
cilantro, with shrimp, with tripe or other offal, with
vegetables and so on. I especially like jook with a load
of cilantro and some easily flaked fish or bacon.
When I started cooking jook at home, I substituted chicken
stock for some of the water and, not surprisingly, it made
a huge difference in the underlying flavors. I also began
to realize just how easy a process this is.
In restaurants, jook is often made in huge pots and
cooked overnight, then flavored in the morning. I usually
make it in the afternoon, simmering it gently and
stirring it occasionally, while puttering around the
kitchen. I often eat a little that night but save most of
it for the morning. Despite its simplicity, jook does not
keep well for much longer than that, especially once it
has been seasoned. You could also make it overnight in a
slow cooker.
Jook
====
1 cup short-grain rice 2 cups chicken stock, preferably
homemade, or water 1 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and
roughly chopped
8/4 pound slab bacon, optional Soy sauce or salt to
taste
9/4 cup crispy cooked bacon, minced, optional
10/4 cup minced scallions
11/2 cup roasted peanuts, optional Sesame oil for
drizzling, optional
12. Wash rice, and put it in a stock pot with chicken stock
or water. Place over high heat until stock boils, then
add about 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, and turn heat
to low. Partly cover pot, simmer for about 1 1/2 hours,
stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary
(probably about 2 cups more).
13. Add ginger and slab bacon, and simmer for an hour more
or so. Jook should have a porridgelike consistency. If
it becomes very thick, add water. When done, jook will
be soupy and creamy, like loose oatmeal.
14. Remove slab bacon, and serve jook in individual bowls.
Season with salt or soy sauce, then garnish with minced
bacon, scallions and peanuts. Drizzle with sesame oil
if desired.
Yield: 6 servings.
Variations: For jook with vegetables, Step 1 remains the
same. In Step 2, omit bacon. Soak 4 or 5 dried black
(shiitake) mushrooms in hot water until softened, then
remove stems, and chop. Add them to mix, along with
ginger and 2 carrots, peeled and finely diced, and a
large pinch of salt. When jook is almost done, stir in 1
cup fresh or frozen peas, and cook 10 minutes or so more.
Proceed as above.
Jook with meat: Step 1 remains the same. In Step 2, about
15 minutes before jook is done, add 1/2 pound sliced
uncooked sirloin or 1/2 pound sliced uncooked chicken
breast or 1/2 pound crumbled uncooked ground or sliced
pork. Proceed as above.
Jook with seafood and cilantro: Step 1 remains the same. In
Step 2, during last 10 minutes of simmering, add 1/2 pound
shrimp, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped, or 1/2 pound
whitefish fillets, skinned and sliced (or use both shrimp
and fish). Proceed as above, adding at least 1/2 cup chopped
cilantro leaves for garnish.
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