Century Eggs and Dried Oyster Porridge

After all that Indian food, it's time to go back to my Chinese roots for a little bit. I've been craving for century egg porridge ever since I saw some Chinese food documentary program last week. LOL! I am such a glutton!

But let me share this news with you first, dear readers. I am currently writing for a new food magazine in town called the Asian Gourmet Magazine. And with the paid restaurant visits from them, I've been visiting restaurants after restaurants but all within the Asian cuisine realm. *rubs tummy* :) I am quite happy and stuffed from every visit although some restaurants are not as good as they were hyped up to be actually. :/ Well, more on that later...i have a deadline this monday and three more restaurants to cover. Imagine what this is doing to my waistline. Man' O Man :P

Ok done talking about that now, my century eggs and dried oyster porridge is simple and yet nostalgic. My mom used to make this for me when I was young and I didn't like it at first because of the pungent century eggs. The taste grew on me after a while and now i love it! My mom use to tell me that these eggs were preserved in horse urine and I believed her for a long while until i figured that it was actually alkaline clay and other stuff that was used. Maybe they DID use horse pee in the olden days, who'd ever know anymore :P

For those of you who do not know what that weird gelatinous looking thing on the plate is, it's just eggs that has transformed in it chemical makeup due to a process of transpiration between certain molecules within the duck egg and its its surrounding mixture. Ok i made that up but read wikipedia: Century Eggs if you want to know more :)

Here's the recipe, smooth and simple:

1 cup of rice
10 cups of water/ broth
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
100gram of dried oysters, washed and soaked for 15 mins
2 century eggs, quartered
5-8 thin slices of ginger

Topping:
Chopped Spring Onion/Chives
Sesame oil
Pepper

Method:

1. Cook rice and water in a pot for about 30 minutes, until every grain of rice breaks down, rendering the mixture into a thick consistency.

2. Add your dried oysters and ginger slices. You can also start adding your seasoning now too; salt, pepper, oyster sauce and sesame oil.

3. Cook for another 10 minutes. Stirring constantly. It would be easier if you have a rice cooker but otherwise, you would need to lookout for your pot of congee from burning at the bottom of the pot.

4. Now, add your century eggs and let the congee cook for another 10 -15 more minutes before serving.

5. Top it off with some chopped spring onions, a splash of sesame oil and some pepper.

It's been a rainy and cold day today actually. I was surprise at the sudden change of the weather but this was a very comforting meal :) Do eat it with green tea.