It feels a bit stupid to be writing about a nice warm winter meal in the middle of summer... but that is how backed up my ideas for posts are at the moment! I have a good chunk of ideas and photos from the last winter that are itching to be written so that they can free up their storage space from my ideas folder on Dropbox!

So, here I am writing about a quick and easy winter meal... a sort of rice soup or porridge that is perfect for the middle of winter... in this sweltering European heat! Okay.. it is only about 30 degrees Centigrade (456.348923947669302057 Far-heists for the Imperial overlords!)... which in Australian terms isn't so bad.. but in Europe and in European houses... it feels like the end of the world!

Ingredients

One cup of rice
10 cups of water
Ginger (lots!)
Shallots or Spring Onions (a bunch)
Chicken or firm White Fish like Cod
Salted Duck Eggs (optional)
Dried Shrimps (options)
Sherry
Oil (Olive and Sesame)
Light Soy Sauce (light in taste, not in fat content!)
Chinese Breadsticks (called Yah Jauw Quai... or some vague impression of that!)

Preparation

The first thing that you will want to do is to marinate the meat. I prefer to use Cod or some sort of similar white fish... but chicken also works quite well as well! Cut the meat into fairly large chunks... they are going to spend quite a bit of time in the hot rice porridge, so you want them to keep together and not just turn into mush! Then marinate in a splash of sesame and olive oil, a healthy dose of dry sherry and then large splash of light soy sauce. Mix it all in with your hands and sit it in the fridge for a few hours to marinate (mixing and turning occasionally).

Now, the rice base is stupidly simple... a single cup of rice with 10 cups of water in a LARGE pot! Now, the rice will starch up the water and bubble over if you aren't careful... I tend to cover it with the lid propped up on two chopsticks to let the air out. Anyway, cook at low heat until the water is boiling away and make sure that the heat stays as low as possible whilst keeping the water bubbling.

Chop the ginger into LARGE chunks or slices. Now, I prefer to chop into large pieces as they are easier to fish out when you are eating... if they are too small, you might accidentally chomp down on one! Depends on how much you like chewing ginger! Also cut about half the shallots into large pieces and add both the ginger and shallots.

When the water is boiling... add the marinated meat. I also add the leftover sauce to give the porridge some extra taste. Meanwhile, on a separate pot of water, boil the salted duck eggs (two or three...) until the are hard... and in a bowl of COLD water, soak a handful of dried shrimps.

Keep stirring the pot in regular intervals to make sure that the meat isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot... and that you haven't ended up with a stick rice mess all over your cooking surface!

When the mix is a thick consistency (personal preference for how much!), add the salted duck eggs (broken up and chopped into large pieces) and the now soaked and bloated shrimp (without the water that it was soaking in!). Stir for a little bit longer (everything will be cooked by now, it is just to get a similar temperature!) and let it sit for a little bit whilst you prepared the breadsticks!

Now, the Chinese breadsticks can be found at any Chinese bakery. They are oily to the touch but they toast up nice and crispy... but be careful, they cook fast and can burn if you aren't paying attention (damn you, @splinterlands!)

Place them on foil under a hot grill. The first side will take roughly one Splinterlands game... turn them over when it gets nice and crispy and browned. The second side (after you turn them over) takes roughly half an average Splinterlands game... so, be quick and pay attention!

They should look a bit like this when you pull them out!

Cut them up into chunks into a large bowl (with paper toweling to absorb the oiliness!). These are always the most favourite part of the meal... so, make sure you have enough! They can be used for dipping into the rice porridge or just dropped straight in (like the cover photo).

You can prepare little side dishes to add into the soup... some people prefer to have the salted duck eggs and shrimps served separately and added by personal preference... but everyone in my house likes them, so it is just easier to add them to the base soup. Other things that we have on hand to add are toasted sesame seeds and the rest of the chopped shallots (raw).

Yoshi prefers his with just a small helping of toasted sesame seeds... no breadsticks!

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