Congee – The Food Series
Rice porridge is so underrated I feel like hugging it and telling that warm nutritious bowl to pay those mainstream brunch bullies no mind. Jam packed with ginger, congee is basically medicine disguised as a warm cuddly friend. FYI, I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t love my congee.
This makes a medium pots worth, meaning you can eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Ingredients:
- Jasmine rice
- Ginger (thumb sized)
- Pork/prawn/chicken mince
- Coriander
- Spring onion
- Fried shallots (optional)
- Tofu/fish cakes
- Fish sauce
- Soy sauce
Method:
- In a medium-large pot, toast your rice first. You DON’T want them to brown or reach any colour per say, but you DO want to reawaken them. Toasting then also helps with the broken-rice effect.
- Then add four times the amount of boiling water. If you have chicken or pork bones lying around, add them to the pot now.
- For the next 20-25 minutes, helicopter mum over your pot of love, being sure to skim off and discard the scum that rises to the top and adding more boiling water if need be.
- If you’re cooking this with meat mince, prepare it by seasoning the mince (I usually go for a pork and prawn mixture) with salt, pepper, soy and fish sauce, crack one egg and mix till combined.
- When your rice is congee consistency (water is soupy and the rice can be easily squashed), add your meat mixture using a tablespoon to shape them into informal dumplings. Leave till they are cooked through, 6-8 minutes.
- Now, season. Use fish sauce, salt and if you’re a true Southeast Asian, pickled cabbage to flavour.
- Serve hot with fried shallots, a squeeze of lemon/lime, coriander or shallots.
This piece and images were contributed by ex-Meld journalist and our very dear friend Emily Hua. Stay tuned for more recipes and good attempts from her and others in the team. Be sure to tag your creation to our Instagram to be featured in our page.