Mom and grandma would always regale us with tales of how giving birth was the only time Chinese women of past generations got a vacation. For the few weeks after, they’d get pampered, eat delicious dishes prepared by someone else and then when it was over go back to the grind.
Seeing as grandma pumped out 12 kids (woof!), she definitely had a firm lived in perspective on it.
Mom would always make sure there were plenty of eggs to go in the dish. Whole family loved it and it avoided arguments. My sis and I always argued with each other on having our fair share of coveted items LOL
Jook with pork floss and a raw egg added was another inexpensive comfort meal for sure.
Mom never made beef tongue enough to be a comfort food for us. It took so much effort for her to clean and cook it the way she wanted. But man, does that dish make me feel warm and fuzzy. It embodied my mom willing to make this special dish once in a while because she wanted to do so for us. So I guess it’s comfort in a different way from the other dishes I’ve listed.
Oh and steamed black bean and garlic spareribs. yeah, that’s a dim sum dish, but that’s another comfort dish for me. Mom made that regularly since spare ribs were inexpensive, get the butcher to cut it up, add rest of ingredients when home, steam and you’re done. That was a one of the first dishes I taught myself when I moved out. Because it is a comfort food dish.
Really makes me appreciate how even growing up with limited financial resources and both parents working two jobs, they still managed to make delicious and healthy filling meals for us.
my mom just steamed tofu topped with salted shrimp paste. that was really good, but not necessarily worth the snide comments that was made by non-chinese neighbors prompted by the aroma. that and anything made with salt fish or fermented black beans.
i went and bought a can of it at ranch 99. this particular version was sweeter than i remember and it didn’t scratch the itch.
my mom steamed riblets with fermented bean curd. the bean curd was the condiment of choice when it came to spinach or green beans as well. i bought a jar when i picked up the gluten. couldn’t find the shrimp sauce for the tofu though.
i made a batch of pigs feet (and eight hard boiled eggs) in black vinegar last week and ate it all in one sitting. making another batch now. also made tomato beef with onions and couple of sliced jalapenos but instead of eating it over rice, i bought a bag of baguettes from a banh mi place and ate them as a cross between sloppy joes, a banh mi, and an ahogada torta. some vietnamese/chinese place ought to offer that as a banh mi filling, though it probably wouldn’t need the cilantro/pickled vegetable. maybe add a little fermented black bean. getting back in touch with my inner toisan which i’ve neglected pursuing all the other regional chinese cuisines.
