Dear readers,
How is everyone coping in this crazy time? If you are working from home, I hope you are productive (even if you are lounging on the sofa with sweatpants and a button-down shirt waiting for a video call from your boss, no judgment at all). If you don’t have the luxury of working from home, I hope you’ll take extra precautions to protect yourselves and others. I don’t know how long this is going to last, but I know this too shall pass.
I called my parents in Vietnam yesterday, and I was relieved they sounded so alert and upbeat. They are well-informed of the facts and safety measures. They have enough sanitation supplies. They avoid going out unnecessarily. It was all I needed to hear. When you’re so far away from someone, you use every cue from the sound of their voice, their intonation and even their pause to visualize what they look like and how they feel. It comforted me that my parents are doing alright, waiting for all of this to be over, along with everyone else in the world.
For me, I’m doing alright too. I managed to get all my reading material (five cookbooks, two memoirs and one fiction to be exact), before the library closed. I made a few trips to the groceries stores nearby to get the food I’d need for the coming week (and no, I did not stock up on toilet paper). Yesterday, I even managed to get beans, because what else do we talk about these days (besides you-know-what)?
With these beans, I am going to make a congee with coconut milk (cháo đậu nước dừa), because it reminds me of my father. He would have this for breakfast after his night shift many moons ago. It’s a concoction of red beans and rice, simmered in water until tender. We pair it with sesame salt (muối mè) or other savory dishes such as caramelized pork or pickled radish. I would steal a little bit from my father’s bowl and douse it with all of his coconut sauce on the side. To me, red bean congee would never be that appealing without the coconut: the smooth congee and a few crunchy earthy bits of the beans commingle with the savory rich coconut sauce and fragrant sesame salt to awake all taste buds. There is so much flavor in such humble ingredients.
As I’m writing these words, I think about the doctors, nurses and healthcare workers on the frontline; I conjure up faces and names of the garbage truck drivers who keep the streets clean, of groceries stores staff who stock up the shelves, of factory workers who keep the manufacturing line running and of others whose services are essential to our “social distancing”. The least I could do is give them a smile. On my way out later, I’ll smile at the security guards in my building, the TTC staff at the gantry and the cashier who scans my milk. I hope you’ll do the same.
Take care and stay healthy dear readers.
Red Bean Congee with Coconut Milk
Ingredients
Congee
- ¾ cup red bean soaked in water (best overnight) and drained
- ½ cup white rice soaked in water (for 1 hour) and drained
- ¼ cup glutinous rice soaked in water (for 1 hour) and drained
- Salt
Coconut sauce
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp water
Sesame salt
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, cover the bean with water and cook them on medium heat until tender, about 30-40 minutes. Add a few pinches of salt, transfer the beans to a bowl and set aside when done.
- Using the same pan, combine white rice and glutinous rice and simmer on medium heat with 3 ½ cups of water. Once the rice softens, add in the beans and gently mix until combined.
- In a small saucepan, cook the coconut milk with water on medium heat. Do not let it boil vigorously.
- Add salt and sugar. Make a slurry with the cornstarch and add it to the coconut milk. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens and remove it from the heat.
- Combine the sesame seeds and salt.
- Serve hot with the coconut sauce and sesame salt on the side.
