What do YOU eat when you're sick?

When I was just a little girl, my mother asked me...what do you want to eat?

I was ALWAYS sick when I was little (true! ask my siblings!) and so my mother always served me jook- Korean rice porridge.
Recently I took care of a tiny little girl with the flu while her parents were away. I made her chicken noodle soup and she devoured it. - good sign. Then I remembered eating mom's rice porridge and thought 'I should make that next time!'

Koreans aren't the only ones who serve jook (rice porridge) as a cold remedy. The Chinese call it Congee and the Japanese call it O-kayu but all 3 are mostly the same. You can vary it by adding chicken, beef, shrimp or even abalone, my favorite!
With the much anticipated flu season coming up ahead and children coming home sick, I thought I'd share with you my version of the Rice Porridge with Chicken:

Ingredients:

2 cups rice soaked over night

1 cup of chicken breast chopped

1 medium size carrot chopped into small bits

5 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tbsp sesame oil

7 cups chicken broth

green onions chopped

bacon bits

salt to taste

Directions:
Get the pot heated up in med/high temperature. Season the chicken breast with salt & pepper. Add sesame oil and saute garlic, chicken,carrots & garlic together until the chicken is cooked through. Drain the soaked rice and add to the pot. Stir until the rice looks transluscent. Add approx 7 cups of chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes until the rice is soft. Garnish with bacon bits and green onions. Aaaahhh.