Congee

Bring six cups of water and one cup of long-grain jasmine rice to a bare simmer, partially cover and cook one and one-half hours until the rice has broken down into a thick creamy porridge.

If the water evaporates too quickly, add more a cup at a time until the desired consistency; do not eat it without seasoning heavily with salt and pepper.

Cook the bacon, then shape it into a smile on a paper towel as it cools.

Pierce the quail's eggs with a knife, crack them into a skillet of bacon fat and cook sunny side up until the whites are set and the yolks still runny.

Faster version: keep the six to one ratio but use homemade chicken stock, or add chicken parts to the pressure cooker as it cooks.

Add a one-inch knob of finely chopped ginger and one finely chopped clove of garlic; do not season until the end of cooking.

Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes, quick release, and season generously with salt and pepper.

Fry thinly sliced garlic and shallots in a little vegetable oil and drain on paper towels; slice some green onion.

Garnish with two sunny side up eggs, doubled bacon, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, a scallion beard, black sesame seeds, pickled ginger, crispy shallots, a fried garlic chip, peanuts and a few dots of sriracha.