Japanese Food for sick people

My daughter was kind of sick this weekend, and had trouble keeping down food. All in all, she was not that bad, but of course, we were concerned about getting nutrition and such, so my wife cooked some nice, simple Japanese style foods for sick people. Before I forget, I wanted to pass these along for other people. The recipes are not really anything original, since they’re just variations on miso soup or chicken soup, but I thought she did a nice job cooking them, and I wanted to share her “approach”.

Chicken Soup

This was pretty straightforward and easy. You can try this at home:

1. In a small pot of water, boil the following:
   • Diced carrots
   • Diced daikon, or Japanese radish. If no daikon, peeled, diced turnip is fine, or just peeled potato
   • One chicken thigh
   • Peeled, chopped fresh ginger-root.
2. Boil for at least 30 to 45 minutes, so that the vegetables are real mushy, and the chicken falls off the bone.
3. Remove chicken from soup, tear off, dice the meat into fine portions and put back in.
4. Cool and serve. If really sick to the stomach, just the broth should be enough.
5. Optionally, you can also add some cooked white rice to the soup, but don’t put too much or it will absorb all your broth.

The ginger in the chicken soup really gives a gentle, tangy flavor, plus ginger is often used in Chinese medicine for stomach nausea, so it has two benefits.

Okayu – rice porridge

The dish, okayu, is a kind of rice porridge, and a variation on Chinese congee soup.¹ The soup is very thin and light, so people with upset stomachs can drink the broth easily. Since there are many variations, this is just one way to make it, as my wife did this weekend:

1. In a small pot, boil the following vegetables:
• Diced carrots
• Daikon, or Japanese radish
• If no daikon, try peeled, diced turnip.
2. Boil for a while, until the vegetables are mushy and tender. Usually 20-30 minutes.
3. Now add dashi fish stock. Since the soup is supposed to be light, don’t add too much. Just add some, taste and add more if too thin. If too much, add a little water to thin out.
4. Once cooked, spoon into a bowl and add some cooked white rice. If you add too much, it will absorb all the broth, so just add a little.

If the person really has an upset stomach, the broth only should be used. If they’re feeling a little better, try feed okayu with the vegetables and rice.

On Sunday, when Baby was still sick, she watched her favorite cartoon while drinking four child-size bowls of okayu, and felt much better after that, so it’s definitely helpful for stomach flu.

P.S. If you know variations, please feel free to share.

¹ My wife absolutely loves Congee, and whenever we eat dim sum, she always orders a big bowl of it with some Chinese hot chili paste added in. Baby seems to like it now too. Personally, I prefer the char siu buns myself.