From Turning Red · 2022 · Reconstructed
Ming's Breakfast Congee
Serve when
Serve it steaming with a smiley face of toppings, exactly the way a loving, slightly overbearing mom would plate it for a daughter she's watching very closely.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:16:19 Mei's mother Ming makes her a warm bowl of congee for breakfast — a small, careful act of care in a household where love and control are hard to tell apart. Pixar's team drew on the real Taishanese food of Toronto's Chinatown to get it right.
Turning Red is Pixar's most specific, most personal food film in years — a Chinese- Canadian household where meals carry a mother's whole complicated love. Ming's congee is that in a bowl: nourishing, exacting, a little too attentive. The animators studied real neighbourhood dishes so it would read as true to the people it's about.
Ingredients
- Toppings (to serve):
Method
- Combine the rice, water or stock, and ginger in a big pot and bring to a boil.
- Drop to a low simmer and cook, stirring now and then, for about an hour, until the grains break down into a soft, creamy porridge. Add water if it thickens too much.
- Season with a little salt or soy.
- Ladle into bowls and let everyone build their own toppings — or, if you're Ming, arrange them into a cheerful little face.