PrintFor the love of Congee...
I'm not too sure peoples obsession with congee. Tell be if im wrong but its overboiled rice which has turned into a poridge of sorts?
Then you put topings in/on it and eat?
To be honest i've never had it....what kind of topings do you use?
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14 Comments:
Oddly enough, Jaden at Steamy Kitchen posted her version of a post-Thanksgiving Turkey Congee just a few days ago:
http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/11/24/turkey-congee-rice-porridge/
Sure it's a rice porridge, but her pics don't show anything that's overboiled whatsoever.
LunaPierCook at 11:09AM on 11/30/07
Kbear- I have another congee recipe with different toppings and ingredients here:
http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/11/16/congee/
It's my fall/winter comfort food! You can also adjust the amount of rice you use - just don't use too much more than what I have listed otherwise it would just be overboiled rice! But please do try making congee - all Asian countries have their own version, but the basic recipe is the same. great way to use leftover roast chicken bones.
Steamy Kitchen at 11:17AM on 11/30/07
Come on KBear...do you eat nothing that might be beyond the comprehension of the rest of us? For me it's pig's feet (and chicken feet for that matter).
My employer just mentioned Turkey Congee to me recently (he is Chinese) and I'm so intrigued. Besides, I'm notoriously rice impaired and anything where overboiling rice is a good thing has my name all over it.
chiff0nade at 12:03PM on 11/30/07
Okay, am I the only person (besides my mother) who cooks rice like pasta? Just use plenty of boiling salted water. Taste test grains for the doneness you like (about 15-17 min. in my case) drain well, set back over the pot for a bit to slightly steam, fluff with a fork, then put in a well-buttered baking dish and heat (or re-heat) covered in a low-ish oven.
Beats figuring water to rice ratios, not to mention cleaning all the stuck grains off the bottom of the pot. Never had a failure this way. Try it!
Lilla at 3:41PM on 11/30/07
Congee is like any other kind of porridge, oatmeal, polenta, cream of wheat.....
Granted there are people who do not like that kind of texture, but I love it. It is a great vehicle for leftovers.
Sweetie at 4:36PM on 11/30/07
Rice porridge is eaten all over Asia... it is a true comfort food, most commonly a breakfast dish or light late night meal, but eaten at all hours and all seasons. My personal favorites are the various versions of bubur, Indonesia's answer to rice porridge. It's less soupy than the congee dishes I've eaten -- but that could just have been my limited experience. I found it so delicious as to be addictive. It was practically the only thing I ate for breakfast the entire two weeks I was in Bali and Java. I had various versions for dinner several times, too! I've been trying to recreate it, but no luck yet. I think you have to be sitting in Indonesia, breathing their air, etc., to achieve the proper flavor! Sigh.
Anyway. There is a dessert version of rice porridge made with black rice that is simply to die for... it is SSSSOOOO yummy and considered quite the specialty.
Other names for rice porridge are okayu (Japan), jook, johk, chok, bai-zhou, kao tom, chao bo, and who knows what all else. Some are more like soups than porridge. Most are savory but several are dessert dishes. There seems no end to the variations, but all are considered comfort food.
Try it. It may be an acquirable taste, but I suspect it's probably one of those instant love or hate things.
LoCo at 4:43PM on 11/30/07
I think it's love or hate based on whether you like other hot cereals. If you like grits, you will probably like congee. Traditional flavors include lean pork and thousand-year old egg (available at dim sum places), liver, or a seafood variety.
I love it topped with shredded beef floss--Robyn wrote a post about beef floss somewhere on serious eats. It's basically shredded beef jerky, preserved with sugar and MSG. Delicious.
NYminknit at 5:51PM on 11/30/07
http://inpraiseofsardines.typepad.com/blogs/2005/12/rainy_day_break.html
here's someone's post about it. I forgot--at restaurants they serve it with fried dough.
NYminknit at 5:58PM on 11/30/07
We ate this at home almost every Sunday- we would top the congee from a variety of dishes- Chinese pickles, dried pork, egg, peanuts, seaweed (nori)... it is delicious and very very comforting...
shaofan at 8:42PM on 11/30/07
i love jook, especially with the little fried crullers traditionally served with it. my favorite combination is scallions, pork, and preserved egg. total comfort food!
cybercita at 8:46PM on 11/30/07
Lilla - that's how James Beard cooked rice! I never knew anyone else did it that way. I've cooked wheatberries and other nutty grains like that, but not rice. Do you think baking is a necessary step?
butterface at 10:00PM on 11/30/07
Butterface-
No, baking isn't absolutely necessay--it usually just works out that way for me because I can cook it a bit ahead of whatever else I'm cooking and not have to try to get everything ready all at once. The oven (re)heating also helps dry the rice out a bit.
And no, I didn't know James Beard cooked rice that way, too. Good company, though!
Lilla at 2:02PM on 12/01/07
Hah...yeah...actually thats what congee (or juk or zhou or xi fan or whatever you want to call it) is. Overboiled rice...
Its cheap and thrifty. You can make a big pot of it with just a handful of rice.
Its good for using leftover rice and any other leftover anythings you have lying around.
Its basically about 4 parts water to 1 part rice and just cook away on the stove until the rice has a porridge-like consistency. Mind the heat isn't too high or else the starch will scorch and will stick like hell to the bottom of your pan. Just load it all into a pot and walk away.
And if you like your congee thinner, just add a little more water. If you like it thicker than you already have it, just let some of the water cook out. Also, congee will get exponentially thicker if you let it stand.
Just about anything is good with it. Like I mentioned before, its a good way to eat up any leftovers.
Sometimes we'll throw any leftover chicken, shredded in, or some cut up sweet potatoes. Or it can be flavored with a few dried scallops.
A congee classic is congee with the addition of pork strips and green onion and thousand year old eggs. Try it with a dash of white pepper.
Also try chicken and ginger and green onions. (Chicken can be easily replaced by frog for another congee classic!)
fuuchan at 9:29PM on 12/01/07
Lilla - if I still cooked rice on the stove, the burnt grains at the bottom of the pot was my favorite part. It's crunchy and delicious!
Anyway, congee was a weekend ritual for my family. I didn't really appreciate it when I was home, but it's good comfort food. It's not on the top ten of my favorite foods to get, but it's great for when you're sick or when you need to get rid of leftovers. My mom often made it, as other people mentioned above, with shredded chicken, pork and dried scallops. Scallions for garnish.
toastykitten at 11:21AM on 12/02/07