Chicken and Dried Scallop Jook

Lil P has been sniffling and coughing started on Sunday. In an effort to get a speedy recovery, I have been giving him EmergenC twice a day, load up on orange juice, and acai blueberry juice. Couple times previously, I was able to catch him with the first symptoms of watery eyes, stuffy nose and gave him the same drinks and he was able to not get sick, but this time it was too late. :(

I wanted to make him chicken noodle soup last night, but he insisted that he doesn't want to eat all of the veggies that comes with it. So instead, I made him saimin (from S&S saimin packets). What he didn't realize is I used chicken stock instead of the soup base it came with and that I have pureed broccoli, carrots, and cabbage in the broth so that he is getting enough veggies needed to get him recovered faster. I have topped it off with slices of spam and grilled chicken. I didn't take a pic of it because it didn't look appetizing to be captured. :p

I decided to make jook (chinese rice soup) last night to get ready for tomorrow. Lil P noticed what I was doing and pleaded to me that he doesn't want that for breakfast. He's a rice lover but some odd reason he doesn't like jook! So I told him I'll pack it for lunch the next day for myself.

My jook recipe is not what you normally see in a chinese cookbook. To make jook taste good, authentically, you have to cook them for a long period of time. My mom use to leave the big pot of jook simmer for HOURS! I don't have that kind of time, so I have been making mine using cooked rice and chicken stock for years now. Coincidentally, Susan and I had the same idea. You can check out Susan's recipe here, or read below for mine:

Chicken and Dried Scallop Jook

1 cup of cooked rice

2.5 cups of chicken stock

1.5 cup of water

Chicken pieces

2 dried scallops

Place cooked rice, chicken stock, and water into a pot and let boil. Meanwhile, shred chicken and scallops and throw in pot (you may want to add a couple slices of ginger at this point, if desire). Lower heat and let it simmer until thicken. Add more water if it gets too thick. You can serve this with white pepper and a drizzle of soy sauce, then garnish with chopped green onions, and peanuts.

Leftover chicken is BEST. Like leftover Costco rotisserie chicken (you can even throw in the bones for extra flavors!) I actually take the rotisserie chicken apart and then freeze them for jook. Another good leftover to throw in Jook is roast duck. It makes it sooo yummy!

I am using my Fuel bento box for my lunch today. top tier I have nectarine and mangoes, bottom tier is my jook. The bottom tier is microwavable so I'm going to heat it up at lunch. I had totally forgotten to bring a soup spoon...looks like I'll be eating my jook with a regular spoon...small sips!! Am putting this on "What's for Lunch Wednesday" as I'm finally able to post one that is my real Wednesday lunch! :)