I was first introduced to congee when I lived in lower Manhattan, pretty much Chinatown. It was full of Chinese immigrants cooking authentic chinese food. And aside from 5 for dollar dumplings, congee was the cheapest comfort food you could buy. It seemed simple enough, a porridge made of rice, garnished with white pepper, hot oil, chili paste, soy, red vinegar, peanuts... and you can add anything to this porridge to flavor it... there was close to 2 or 3 dozen choices at congee village maybe 100... from shrimp to preserved fish to lobster, chicken, frog legs, duck hearts, duck blood, pig intestine, abalone, snail, liver what ever you pleasure in any combination. One of my favorites was dry scallop and these little white nuts. It came to the table steaming and bubbling in ceramic bowl that must have been heated in 500+ degree oven and stayed warm until consumed... always too hot to eat at the table.
a Congee was available at every corner in chinatown just about so I never attempted making it until I moved back to Texas.... no congee in Texas that I know of.
Most recipe's I saw just called for water and sushi rice or jasmine rice or a combination... Either will do what ever you have or try the difference and whatever your pleasure I used sushi rice. Brown rice would work and be very healthy too.
I started by making a stock from about 2 lbs of organic chicken necks $1.96 and added a few marrow bones I had laying around + celery stalk, carrot, 1/4 onion, a few garlic cloves and some chinese ginger root. I cooked that for a couple of hours and let cool. strain and refrigerate.
The next morning I soaked a cup of sushi rice. and changed the water three times in an hour. last time I used a hand blender to chop up the rice into finer grains. strained and added to the stock which I was reheating after skimming the fat. I add a little more ginger root here. and on a med low heat stirring frequent to occasionally to make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom. recipe's call for 8 to one stock. I go 10 to 1 and might even add two more cups of water and let it go longer than the required hour and a half. I like mine extra creamy with small grains still intact. for this I broke out the hand blender and creamed the congee quickly and pulsing (after removing the ginger). I place the ginger back after this... all this does is speed things up a bit. your congee will cream if you stir and let if go long enough.... no hand blender? you can crush the rice with mortar and pestle in the first step... for the little salt content I add 1 TBS of fish sauce.
now I have congee for the next few days in my fridge and I add few shrimp to that right before serving
cooked in the congee. I garnish with chinese scallion, white pepper, and home made Kimchi. One of the classic additions to classic congee is preserved salted cabbage... I always have kimchi on had so I add that... and I am back in the comfort of the L.E.S. and the whole meal costs me about 3 or four bucks that will last me several days. I can add chicken or just plain congee with kimchee... or mix it up with what ever I have in the fridge. This is such a health way to start the day or end the day on a cold winter night... or anytime really. I pour myself some hot tea. and feel blessed.
a Congee was available at every corner in chinatown just about so I never attempted making it until I moved back to Texas.... no congee in Texas that I know of.
Most recipe's I saw just called for water and sushi rice or jasmine rice or a combination... Either will do what ever you have or try the difference and whatever your pleasure I used sushi rice. Brown rice would work and be very healthy too.
I started by making a stock from about 2 lbs of organic chicken necks $1.96 and added a few marrow bones I had laying around + celery stalk, carrot, 1/4 onion, a few garlic cloves and some chinese ginger root. I cooked that for a couple of hours and let cool. strain and refrigerate.
The next morning I soaked a cup of sushi rice. and changed the water three times in an hour. last time I used a hand blender to chop up the rice into finer grains. strained and added to the stock which I was reheating after skimming the fat. I add a little more ginger root here. and on a med low heat stirring frequent to occasionally to make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom. recipe's call for 8 to one stock. I go 10 to 1 and might even add two more cups of water and let it go longer than the required hour and a half. I like mine extra creamy with small grains still intact. for this I broke out the hand blender and creamed the congee quickly and pulsing (after removing the ginger). I place the ginger back after this... all this does is speed things up a bit. your congee will cream if you stir and let if go long enough.... no hand blender? you can crush the rice with mortar and pestle in the first step... for the little salt content I add 1 TBS of fish sauce.
now I have congee for the next few days in my fridge and I add few shrimp to that right before serving
cooked in the congee. I garnish with chinese scallion, white pepper, and home made Kimchi. One of the classic additions to classic congee is preserved salted cabbage... I always have kimchi on had so I add that... and I am back in the comfort of the L.E.S. and the whole meal costs me about 3 or four bucks that will last me several days. I can add chicken or just plain congee with kimchee... or mix it up with what ever I have in the fridge. This is such a health way to start the day or end the day on a cold winter night... or anytime really. I pour myself some hot tea. and feel blessed.
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