Name: Cantonese Beef Chuk
Yield: Serves 4–6 as Breakfast
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 5 ml (1 tsp) Shaoxing wine or medium dry sherry; 15 ml (1 tbsp) peanut or vegetable oil; 10 ml (2 tsp) finely shredded ginger julienne strips; 15 ml (1 tbsp) thin or light soy sauce; 2.5–4 ml (½–¾ tsp) salt; 350 g (12 oz) rump steak, trimmed and cut into rectangular pieces, about 2 × 4 cm (⅓ × 1½ in) and 5 mm (⅕ in) thick; 30 ml (2 tbsp) peanut or vegetable oil; 170 g (6 oz/¾ cup) Thai or fragrant rice (or short-grain rice), rinsed; 12 turns white or black peppermill; 2.5 ml (½ tsp) salt; 1 large egg, lightly beaten; leaves of heart of a crisp lettuce, cut crossways at 2.5 cm (1 in) intervals; 3 litres (5¼ pints/12 cups) boiling hot water; 7.5 ml (1½ tsp) tapioca or potato flour; 1.5 ml (¼ tsp) sugar

Preparation info

Serves
4–6
as Breakfast

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Classic Food of China

By Yan-Kit So

Published 1992

About

For as long as the Chinese have eaten boiled rice, they have also enjoyed rice congee – zhou in Mandarin and chuk in Cantonese – boiled for a much longer time than cooked rice. By Chinese standards, zhou or chuk is not a soup, for it is made with rice, while soups are not made with rice. As a meal, it makes a hot and soothing breakfast, it is also a good luncheon dish, accompanied by fried noodles, and it is suitable for a light supper, since it is easily digestible and can be eaten just be