
Our idea of comfort food is very much shaped by our experience. Growing up in Hong Kong within a Cantonese family, I immediately turn to congee (savoury rice porridge) to sooth a weakened digestive system. Unfortunately, congee is not something I make often so my success can be hit or miss. Besides, cooking is usually far from the top of my priority list when I don’t feel well. I just want a loved one to bring me a steaming bowl of congee.
I love the freedom and independence of living on my own…except when I’m sick. Even the takeout menu does not entice knowing all the salt, grease, and MSG they liberally add to all the dishes. At times like this, I fall back on dishes that I know how to make with reliable success. I want my meal to taste plain enough not to be upsetting but have enough flavour to be appetizing. It’s a fine balance.

Cooking dried noodles is one of the most basic cooking skills, the Asian equivalent of cooking pasta. There are only a few pointers to guarantee noodle success.
- plenty of boiling water
- stir regularly
- keep a watchful eye on the cooking time
- rinse immediately under cold running water to stop cooking
- submerge in cold water until ready to use to prevent clumping
I am partial to soba noodles. Along with tempeh, they are pantry staples that I never fail to replenish. One is a starch and the other protein. As long as I have both at home, I can pull together a tasty nutritious quick dinner regardless of my physical wellbeing. That was exactly what I had for dinner on Sunday after coming down with another bout of illness (seriously, what was up with that?!).

Heidi Swanson’s Black Sesame Otsu from her cookbook Super Natural Every Day is a recipe I turn to often. I love soba noodle salad and her black sesame dressing has all the Asian flavours I am familiar with. I loosely adapted her recipe to use what I had at home including grounded black sesame, pinenuts, brown rice vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, toasted sesame oil, and maple syrup. As I happened to have a variety of herbs in the fridge, I tossed in plenty of basil, green onion, cilantro, and garlic scapes into the mix too. Normally I would marinate the tempeh before toasting to give them nicer flavour. But since convenience was paramount, I just diced and toasted in the toaster oven until they turned golden and crunchy. I topped each bowl with half of a hardboiled egg for a little extra nutrition.
It was exactly the kind of light meal I craved. Certainly not a comforting bowl of congee but it worked its magic. The next day, I woke up good as new and had one of my most productive days in recent memory. Never underestimate the healing power of food.
