Recipe: Congee

[thorfinn]

Congee is an awesome food for when you're ill, or just feel like something hot and tasty and soft and nice. It's easy to make, and extremely easy to digest.

1. Put about 2 cups of washed rice in a pot.
2. Add a bit of olive or sesame oil and garlic (dried garlic is fine), fry it up for a few minutes. Skip this step if you don't want any oil.
3. Pour in about 4 litres of water (substitute some chicken or vegetable stock for some of this if you like). Bring to boil, then turn down to low simmer.
4. Leave for 15-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add some kind "stuff" for interest, one or more of the below:
   • Sliced white fish into it about 5 minutes out
   • Chicken cut into small bits and put in about 15 minutes out
   • Some random selection of chopped veges, e.g. carrots (10 mins out), broccoli (7 mins out), zucchini (5 mins out)
   • Minced pork + cornflour + white pepper, gently hand squeezed into balls (15 mins out)
   • sliced (already rehydrated) shitake mushrooms
   • Diced Century Egg
   • Whatever you may feel like adding that will poach well
6. Serve with optional condiments:
   • good light soy sauce (optionally with sliced chillies in the soy)
   • fresh ground black pepper
   • fresh spring onions
   • dried fried shallots/onions
   • fried egg(s)
   • Chinese Donut

If you have time, you slow simmer the congee for about 4-5 hours, adding a bit more water, but I find that the above is a perfectly adequate shortcut.

Tastes good the next day, and it's all perfectly microwaveable, with the addition of about half a cup of water into a full bowl.

Comments

[afuna]

Oh man, congee. Congee is my go-to food when I'm sick (to the point where I can't actually stand to eat it when I'm not sick, because I associate it too closely with being ill *g*).

Have you heard of pork floss? The english name is rather horrible, but it goes very nice with congee. There's also a fish-based version, I don't know if it's called fish floss, though.

Congee also works well as sweet, rather than savory: toss in some baking chocolate, let it melt. Toss in just enough that everything turns slightly goopy and brown. It doesn't look like much, but it's great for cold/rainy days.

[thorfinn]

Mmm, yes, pork floss is nom. :-)

I also like crumbled salt fish bits, and a friend of mine mentioned salt duck egg on faceborg.

[qamar]

Thanks! Although, this recipe is totally different to the one you gave me when I was sick in Montreal! Then you said a) rice b) ginger c) chicken stock and d) splash of soy.

I have avoided garlic! Heh. Maybe I'll try a garlic one now. :)

<3 congee

[thorfinn]

Hee, "congee" has only two required components - rice and water.

Everything else is completely optional.