Buy thinly sliced beef from the supermarket, usually labelled for sukiyaki or hotpot.

Aged soy sauce has a rich, not too salty flavour. I buy Yuan’s, which is called royal soy sauce. It is expensive but a bottle lasts a long time, because the soy sauce is used in small amounts.

As well as congee, this dish goes well with steamed rice, or boiled noodles.

For the garlic and shallot oil:
4 shallots (about 60 grams), peeled
3 garlic cloves, peeled
60ml cooking oil

For the poached beef and bean sprouts:
175 grams thinly sliced beef
100 grams bean sprouts
2-3 spring onions
20ml aged soy sauce
Fine sea salt

1 Thinly slice the shallots and garlic, and put them into a small skillet or saucepan. Add the oil, then place the pan over a medium flame until the ingredients are sizzling. Turn the flame to medium-low and cook until the shallots and garlic are medium brown.

Remove the pan from the heat and use a small, flat, slotted ladle to scoop the solids from the oil. Shake off as much oil as possible, then put the fried shallots and garlic in a small bowl. Leave the oil in the pan.

2 Shred the spring onions lengthwise, then cut the lengths into 5cm pieces.

3 Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the bean sprouts and cook until they start to wilt, about 10 seconds or less. Immediately scoop them outusing a large slotted ladle. Put the bean sprouts on a clean, dry dish towel and blot to remove the excess water. Pile the bean sprouts on a shallow serving dish.

4 Bring the pot of water back to the boil. Add the beef slices one by one. As soon as each slice loses its pink colour, remove it from the water and drain in a colander. After cooking all the beef, shake off the excess water.

5 While the beef is cooking, reheat the oil used to fry the shallots and garlic.

6 Pile the beef onto the serving dish.

7 When the oil is hot, add the spring onions and stir until they wilt. Use chopsticks to lay the wilted spring onions over the beef.

8 Drizzle the soy sauce over the ingredients, then scatter the fried shallots and garlic on top. Drizzle about 30ml of the shallot-and-garlic oil over the ingredients and serve immediately.

Poached pork kidney and liver

Have the butcher clean the pork kidney, removing the veins and core. Check it over carefully to make sure it is cleaned thoroughly.

1 pork kidney (about 300 grams), halved and cleaned
200 grams pork liver
Fine sea salt
4-6 spring onions
About 30 grams peeled ginger
A small handful of fresh coriander
50ml cooking oil
About 30ml aged soy sauce

1 Thoroughly rinse the kidney and liver under cool running water. Liberally sprinkle salt over both sides of the kidney and rub it into the flesh, then rinse.

2 Slice the liver into two-bite pieces about 5mm thick.

3 Lay the kidney halves on a chopping board and score the surface in a cross-hatch pattern, slicing about 3mm deep. Cut the kidneys into two-bite pieces.

4 Finely shred the spring onions lengthwise, then cut the lengths into 5cm pieces. Finely julienne the ginger.

5 Bring two medium-sized pots of salted water to the boil and cook the kidney and liver pieces separately until they are just a little pink at the centre. Do not overcook or they will be tough and mealy. Drain the offal in a colander, then pile on a serving dish.

6 Heat the oil in a small pan. When it is very hot, add the ginger and spring onion, stir and then immediately remove from the heat. Use chopsticks to lift the ginger and spring onion from the oil and place it on the liver and kidney.

7 Pile the fresh coriander on top, then pour over the hot oil to wilt the sprigs and drizzle with soy sauce. Serve immediately.