Food in a bowl #3: Fujian Style Congee

What differentiates a Fujian style from Hong Kong style congee? I can only offer a conjecture.  From what I observed, Hong Kong style congee tends to be white, and the ingridients are added on to the congee --either before serving, or as you might have also observed in some Asian buffet, you add the ingridients yourself from a wide variety of condiments.

Fujian style tends to be brown and the ingriedients are usually cooked with the rice so the rice absorbs the flavor of ingridients. Basic ingridients I culled form childhood memory of what is served at home include rice, pork belly, fried tofu, fried taro root, caramelized challots, and bok choi. The caramelized challots lend their brown color to the congee/porridge.  The basic ingridients can be modified depending on availability except for the challots and bok choi which i think are essential to the taste. The taro root also gives the fujian congee a distinct taste but it's seasonal and very hard to find in a regular supermarket.

Here's another quick fix lunch. I inspected our pantry for leftover dinner last night and found these: fried fish fillet (I made this as meat substitute) and cooked turnips with fried tofu (the fried tofu is a valuable find!).  I rummaged even deeper and saw in the freezer some pre-soaked shitake mushrooms, black, and white wood fungi.  I also found challots and bok choi available in the pantry.

So here's I prepared my lunch:

1.  Mince one large-sized challot. On a pot, saute the minced challots in cooking oil over medium heat until caramelized.
2.  Pour about 3-4 cups of water.
3.  Add about 1/2 cup of cooked rice (from last night). Bring to boil.
4.  Chop pre-soaked mushrooms and fungi. Add to the pot.
5.  Add steamed turnips and fried tofu and fried fish
6.  Add about a teaspoon of meat (optional--if you have chicken or pork belly on your ingridients, no need to use this)
7.  Add fish sauce(if available) or salt and pepper to taste.
8.  Simmer until the rice "pops" and the porridge reaches a thick consisteny.
9.  Pour into a bowl and serve hot.