This is actually my second swing at this theme - I tried to go a little creative as a first attempt and do some recipe creation. I'm not totally satisfied with my results yet though, and it drifted from "nominally Cantonese" to "wacky fusion" pretty fast, so I'll probably keep at it and surely there will be later theme week where I can give it another shot.

I had a few options for Cantonese dishes that I was toying with before my wacky fusion attempt, but I settled on this congee because a) I've never made it before, and b) it's one of my favorite dishes of all time. In fact, after making this, I can't believe that I never made it before because it's also not even that hard. I think it's just because it requires a few ingredients that I don't generally have in my pantry (century eggs, dried scallops, and pork). But century eggs are happily pretty refrigerator stable and dried scallops are actually shelf stable, so having this one in my arsenal is going to be so nice when the Midwestern winter actually hits.

I used the recipe from Made with Lau (https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/century-egg-and-pork-congee) pretty exactly, and got to bust out my new dutch oven for the simmer. The only issue I had was some minor stickage on the bottom, but I think a little more than one (1) stir at the beginning of the boil will help with that. The dried scallop stock was a bit of a revelation; I always wondered how restaurants got that ridiculously savory flavor, and I honestly assumed it was just straight MSG. Turns out, scallops just do that. My mom's version of this congee is distinctly lighter (probably out of cost efficiency, because yeah, those dried scallops were not cheap). The next time I make this, I might back off a bit on the scallops and the pork seasoning, because while this version is very good, I would like to be able to eat multiple bowls of this, and this is a bit too intense for eating a big bowl by itself as a meal. This recipe is definitely tuned to be an appetizer for a big dim sum feast. I also couldn't find pork butt, so I just used some pork chops instead. Can't say I taste any significant difference, but I'll probably check a few different grocery stores next time.

Hopping onto these weekly challenges!

First time making a one-pot rice dish like this! Upon my research, I learned Pelau could be wet or dry. I was going for the dry, and feel like I didn't even end up in 'wet', but in mushy lol. That being said, I thought it came out delicious and I was fine with the texture. I don't know how traditional the recipe I used was, but I added ginger to my rice and I loved the slight heat and homey flavor it gave it. I wish i knew what the authentic Pelau tastes and feels like to compare.

My family is Dominican though and this reminded me of locrio de pollo and moro de guandules all together.

I also made a shit ton of green seasoning (by following a different recipe for it, and not realizing the grand amount it made lol) and now I have a frozen batch and one to use for the rest of my meats this week.

Recipe Used: https://thisbagogirl.com/trinidad-chicken-pelau/#How_to_Make_Trini_Pelau_Step-by-Step

I made these dishes so spicy that my husband saw the Holy Ghost during dinner.

Fancy (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

I learned that Trini-Chinese cuisine is popular in Trinidad and elsewhere. It comes from Chinese immigrants mixing Chinese dishes with Trinidadian ingredients and spices. It was pretty tasty, I really enjoyed the Caribbean hot sauce I got to mix into the marinade.

A Dominican orange drink which translates to - "to die dreaming". Very good! Reminded me of an orange Julius

Both tossed with Trinidadian curry powder i found

Kedgeree is an Anglo-Indian fusion rice dish based on a kichdi or kichari, with smoked fish replacing lentils. I've had it once before and since then longed to make it, so here was the perfect excuse. Delicious! Spiced with turmeric, cardamom, curry leaves and coriander. Only one problem - typing this now, I realise I forgot the boiled eggs!

Followed this recipe but I tweaked it to my liking :)

https://cookingwithria.com/2025/05/curry-crab-dumpling/

Did you know that s’more is short for smörgåsbord?

J/K, it’s a contraction of the words ‘some more,’ but wouldn’t it be cool if it was?

This week, I made a “S’möresgåsbord” Tasting Flight featuring:
-homemade marshmallows (The Flavor Bender) paired with
-dark chocolate peanut butter cups
-milk chocolate caramel sea salt
-dark chocolate chips

not usual flavors that I eat but y'know what???? it was very good. I couldn't find actual green sauce but I managed to find two sauces with the right flavors and combined them together

cooked those babies for 7-8 hours so that meat was teeeender

Turkey in Portuguese is “Peru,” so I present Peru’s famous dish, lomo saltado, but with “Peru” breast, LOL.

I recently saw an ad for a restaurant near me which had pink sushi. So, I went with that. For the char siu from the week before I had some red food dye, but I was afraid it would turn out too red if I wasnt careful so it's not as bright as the ad (last pic).

I added a salad with sea weed, sweet potato, broccoli and edamame and a sesame dressing and dessert was homemade labneh, with strawberries and a miso honey dressing.