# Congee: Asian rice porridge



## JustJoel (Apr 29, 2018)

I’ve recently become interested in congee, Asian (mostly Chinese) rice porridge. It’s a great way to stretch a meal, it’s very versatile, and it’s soft, which is very important to me right now.

I looked up the ratio of liquid to (cooked) rice, and it’s _8 cups of water for 1 cup of rice!_ And that’s for a thick congee! Can this be right? Anyone out there make congee regulary?


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 29, 2018)

JJ, I don't make Jook or Congee regularly, but funny you 
bring it up.  I was just thinking of it yesterday!
In Hawaii we make it alot of times with a turkey
carcass and yes that sounds about right ...
I use this recipe most often:

https://www.foodland.com/recipe/turkey-jook-pork-hash-and-manoa-lettuce

...well, not with the Pork Hash, but it is a delicious addition.


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## JustJoel (Apr 29, 2018)

Kaneohegirlinaz said:


> JJ, I don't make Jook or Congee regularly, but funny you
> bring it up.  I was just thinking of it yesterday!
> In Hawaii we make it alot of times with a turkey
> carcass and yes that sounds about right ...
> ...


That sounds good, thanks! I don’t have any turkey carcasses on hand at the moment, but I do have some heads-on shrimp and some canned crab meat and canned salmon, so I’ll adjust the ingredients and make a seafood congee (or jook, I guess. What a funny word!).

The recipe you shared calls for 1 cup of rinsed, not cooked rice. This seems to be a significant difference from some of the other recipes I was looking at; I’ll have to go back and check more carefully. Cooking the rice in the jook pot actually makes sense.


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## medtran49 (Apr 30, 2018)

We've made https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/congee-caramelized-pork-with-crispy-shallots-and-black-garlic a couple of times.  It's a winning dish from Top Chef by one of the Top Chef winners.  We tried it because Tom raved about it.  You can get the black garlic and the galangel and lemongrass powders at a large oriental market.  Definitely try to find and use black garlic because it made a world of difference in the taste (we used regular garlic first time because we couldn't find the black).  For the spice mix, I used equal parts, except for the cayenne, which was a half part, since Blue Apron sends the spice mix premade.  I also cut down on the liquid to 4 cups and might go even to 3 or 3-1/2 next time, maybe even use broth.  Also, be EXTREMELY careful when caramelizing because it will burn and be bitter in an instant.  Even not go as far as recipe states because it continues cooking and darkening for a few after being removed from heat.


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## Kayelle (Apr 30, 2018)

Kaneohegirlinaz said:


> JJ, I don't make Jook or Congee regularly, but funny you
> bring it up.  I was just thinking of it yesterday!
> In Hawaii we make it alot of times with a turkey
> carcass and yes that sounds about right ...
> ...



Kgirl, the video there was really helpful. I see when he plated it, the pork hash balls were not mentioned. Have you done it with a chicken carcass? I often have one of those, and no need to wait for a turkey.


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## larry_stewart (Apr 30, 2018)

Never tried making it, so I cant help with the ratios , But ,  I figured I'd add to the thread by mentioning that I had the following version of congee at  a restaurant in NYC and it was very good.

*Ginger Rice Congee with Sautéed oyster mushroom, spinach, crispy yuba*


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 30, 2018)

KL, by all means, a chicken carcass could be used, and yes, I have done it with chicken.  He did mention the Pork Hash balls at the end there, I've never out all of those goodies in, but I'm thinking now that I will try it.  DH does not care for this, for obvious reasons, "Ew, it's creamy" ....
In Honolulu, I worked downtown and there was this Chinese take-out only place that had a huge pot of Jook steaming away every morning.   
Jook makes a wonderfully filling, soul soothing, breakfast.  We ate soup alot for breakfast, but then the traditional western style breakfast isn't all that huge there, maybe for the odd Sunday Brunch out kinda thing.

And JJ, I want to say that shrimp is used for the Jook soup-base, but I've never had it.


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 30, 2018)

HEH!
I just did a WWW search, it see if I could freeze Jook --- why yes you can!
I also just remembered that I have a turkey as well as a chicken carcass in the bottom of the deep freeze 
Gee, thanks JJ for bringing this topic up!


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## CharlieD (Apr 30, 2018)

Funny. Just yesterday I posted something in a different group and a person asked if if it was like congee. I had no idea what congee was. But I think I should put that other recipe here. Not sure where though.


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## JustJoel (Apr 30, 2018)

medtran49 said:


> We've made https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/congee-caramelized-pork-with-crispy-shallots-and-black-garlic a couple of times.  It's a winning dish from Top Chef by one of the Top Chef winners.  We tried it because Tom raved about it.  You can get the black garlic and the galangel and lemongrass powders at a large oriental market.  Definitely try to find and use black garlic because it made a world of difference in the taste (we used regular garlic first time because we couldn't find the black).  For the spice mix, I used equal parts, except for the cayenne, which was a half part, since Blue Apron sends the spice mix premade.  I also cut down on the liquid to 4 cups and might go even to 3 or 3-1/2 next time, maybe even use broth.  Also, be EXTREMELY careful when caramelizing because it will burn and be bitter in an instant.  Even not go as far as recipe states because it continues cooking and darkening for a few after being removed from heat.


That recipe sounds exotic and delicious, but there are too many esoteric ingredients that I’d probably only use once!

I bought some Chinese black vinegar once. I tasted it and went “Oh! Worcestershire sauce!” because that’s exactly what it smelled and tasted like! Any one else think so?


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## medtran49 (Apr 30, 2018)

JustJoel said:


> That recipe sounds exotic and delicious, but there are too many esoteric ingredients that I’d probably only use once!
> 
> I bought some Chinese black vinegar once. I tasted it and went “Oh! Worcestershire sauce!” because that’s exactly what it smelled and tasted like! Any one else think so?



The powders were pretty cheap and so was the black garlic.  We use the black vinegar for something else, though what escapes me just now.  The black garlic though is just wow, so much umami.  We've gone looking for other recipes that use it and make them from time to time.  It just amazes me that something that looks fairly unappetizing packs so much good flavor.  You can sub super hard packed light brown sugar for the palm sugar.  A slightly different taste, but not enough to make a difference once it is caramelized.


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 30, 2018)

I've seen palm sugar at the meg-mart, in the Hispanic section, where they have a bunch of different spices and dried herbs in cellophane bags for around $1.00.  That's how I buy most of mine and transfer them into spice jars, much less expensive and I just toss the jars into the dishwasher and refill


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## dragnlaw (May 1, 2018)

I use Black Vinegar fairly often.  Most notably for my base for Won Ton Soup.


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