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Congee & Compassion

- Comfort Food For Colds

Like most practitioners who have ever completed a rice retreat, I've vowed I would never ever touch another grain of rice again. However, if I've been sick with a cold, flu or digestive problems, I've always come back to cooking this Asian favourite.

Congee is basically a rice porridge served throughout Asia. In the Philippines it is often served to the sick and elderly. It's our version of chicken soup. Congee can either be sweet or savoury, and in China it's eaten sometimes three times a day. In fact in TCM diet therapy, congee is highly recommended as a great way to start the day as it is easily digested and gives you warmth and energy.

Maintaining one's health is important in the spiritual path and practitioners are encouraged to wish for a long life for themselves in order to help others and give one a greater opportunity to attain Enlightenment in a single lifetime.

This recipe is especially good in spring, and autumn in particular, when one's body is more prone to illness as it tries to balance itself from the changeable weather conditions during these seasons. This particular version of "congee" is a variation my mother's Lugao recipe that I used to cook for Ratu when he was ill. (But I could never quite get it to taste as good as my Mum's. Must be a parent's love that I'm missing!)

Lúgao (Filipino Style Congee)

Ingredients

Rice (Medium grain, about 1/2 - 1 cup - you don't need a lot!)
Chicken pieces* (wings, thighs, shredded cooked chicken meat)
Chicken / Vegetable Stock
Water
Ginger (sliced into matchstick slivers - ginger is a great appetite stimulant)
Salt and Pepper

* Traditionally mum used a chicken carcass, chicken necks, gizzards, liver, etc - basically anything that was in the fridge.

Sauce & Garnish

Spring onions / Coriander (diced)
Dried shallots
Fish sauce / patis (Squid Brand)
Lemon / calamansi


Method

Here's a great preparation tip before you start: Place the chicken pieces in a colander and pour some boiling water through it. This washes away the fat and scum that you would normally have to skim when making a broth.

Place the chicken pieces in a full pot of water and bring to a boil.

Add the rice, a few teaspoons of stock and the ginger matchstick slivers.

Lower the heat and briskly simmer till the rice is soft and chicken almost falls off the bone, which is when the Lugao is ready. It should be almost soupy in consistency, and not thick and glutinous like a Chinese congee.

When it's ready, ladle into a bowl and flavour with a few drops of fish sauce, a squeeze of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with dried shallots and diced spring onions and serve. Easy!

Serves: 6


 To Make a Basic Chinese Style Congee

Put the rice and water into a saucepan, but wash the rice first to remove any excess starch and prevent glugginess before putting on the stove. For that translucent finish to the rice, the Chinese massage salt into the rice during this process and allow it to sit for a while before rinsing and cooking it.

Bring the rice and water quickly to the boil.

Add stock, and salt and pepper.

Stir, then reduce heat but allow the rice to remain at a brisk simmer. Place a lid on the saucepan, slightly open so the congee doesn't bubble up and spill over. The slower you simmer the rice, the softer and more glutinous it becomes.

In 45 - 50 minutes the congee should be ready.

Note: A quick way to make congee is to use leftover cooked white rice, add water or stock, the ginger strips and cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until it is a gruel.


The Flavour

In a separate pan cook some chicken/pork mince in a little oil and garlic.

When the conjee is ready, add the the meat and stir.

Serve and garnish as above, with lemon and fish sauce, or the old standard, soy sauce.

Receiving As An Act of Compassion

Ratu once shared his experience of looking after his own root Lama, Banthe Giri, and what a great privilege it was for him to be able to serve him. In allowing me to look after him in my own small way through cooking, I now understand what he meant. The experience taught me the joy of being able to receive love and care through his own dignified example.

No one likes being sick and feeling like a burden to others. At least that was how I always felt when I was ill. Consequently I was a terrible patient, refusing help when I most needed it, and angry that I was weak and helpless. I never fully appreciated the joy that comes when someone you love allows you to look after them. In a sense it's an act of complete trust and surrender. How many people can you truly say are completely vulnerable with you with the innocence of a child?

To completely surrender takes immense courage and faith in the Buddha Nature in all of us. I realised from looking after Ratu that an aspect of my mind when I was ill is that I lacked genuine appreciation for the care someone showed towards me. I would tell myself, "Well, if the roles were reversed, I would do it for them too!" Although that was true, to truly surrender is to accept wholeheartedly that you need someone, that all of us need each other from a direct experience of the First Noble Truth. Sickness, old age and death is the only future any of us can look forward to, and to be able to share our pain with each other during our lives - to loose gracefully by dropping our wrong views, is the whole purpose of life.

Ratu, who was also a Grandmaster in the ancient healing martial art of Pancha Tanmantra, often said, what are we trying to gain by accruing more wealth, more love, more sex and more security? The truth is we've already won by being born in this precious human body that experiences both pain and joy simply because it is impermanent. Even the gods in the god realm are envious of these experiences because they are made of light. They can't touch each other, feel pain or embrace their suffering in the knowledge that they will one day die.

This is the sacred outlook of the spiritual warrior. If we look death in the face, and are already grateful for winning life, we live our lives more beautifully in treasuring each precious moment. Even our pain becomes beautiful since when we are dead, we would never be able to experience this aspect of life.

"Life is precious. Love is its diamond.
With the strength of a tiger to embody this jewel is to be free from one's selfishness"

- H.E. Prince Ratu Pandji Pandita