Hey. If you have older Asian relatives and they told you to eat 粥 when you’re sick, they’re right and you should.
Let me change your life real quick.
Take 1/4 cup rice and 1/4 cup water, put them in a freezer safe container, and freeze them. Short or medium grain rice is better
When you’re feeling sick, take the frozen rice out, put it in a pot with 1.5 cups of water. Add a dash of neutral cooking oil, 1/2 tsp powdered ginger, and 1/4 tsp salt. Throw in a pinch or two of white pepper if you have it. Bring to a boil.
Now chop up one or two preserved eggs, and add them to the boiling rice.
Do not skip this step! I’m serious. Even if you never eat preserved eggs, get some to have on hand for this recipe. They are shelf stable and last basically forever. Even if you only ever eat a single one at a time, and only in this, and only when you are sick, they are worth having in your pantry.
Boil the rice for 15-20 min total.
That’s it. Top with whatever you want – scallions are classic, those fried onion things you can use in a green bean casserole are good. People will sometimes add meat floss, or a fried egg, or pickled vegetables. But honestly when you’re sick, just plain is the way to go.
The keys here are the powdered ginger, the preserved eggs, and the rice itself. Broken-up rice is easier to digest, and soup helps you keep hydrated – this is why chicken soup is such a classic. Ginger is known to have anti-nausea properties and may be somewhat anti-inflammatory as well. And preserved eggs, crucially, are somewhat basic, due to the alkaline process that is used to preserve them. They are the closest thing to a food equivalent of Alka-Seltzer, legitimately, and I promise that adding them makes a huge difference, even if you don’t much care for them.
Anyway go forth and make 粥, it’s good and it’s good for you.
