Chicken Congee

I love it too--but I find that it's easier to cook with a crock pot overnight or during the day while I'm at work. And I like to add two or three chicken thighs while it's cooking, dice them, and then stir the pieces back in.

I love congee, and make mine the same way. However, I prefer to put the ginger in as the rice cooks, which I think intensifies the flavor.

This is a common breakfast dish for my partner's family. It's great with some quick scrambled eggs and Chinese pickles. You can use pretty much any rice you have on hand, doesn't have to be sushi rice.

Adding a few dried shiitake mushrooms adds a big umami hit and they mushrooms rehydrate in the liquid. Even if you omit added protein, the mushrooms give a good meat-like bite. I've started this in my instapot, but add a little more liquid 9:1.

I like my congee to be really soft and creamy. I learned how to achieve this from a translated cookbook by Annie Wong. Her instructions are to rinse and drain the rice, add a 1 Tb of oil, then add the rice to boiling water rather than to cold water. The explanation is that the steady rolling boil causes the grains to constantly rub against each other, releasing the starch. (Unfortunately, this means can't achieve the same consistency with a crockpot or rice cooker.)

I did as one reviewer recommended ....... put everything, including 3 chicken thighs in crockpot and cooked on low overnight. Absolutely delicious. I have been looking for an easy congee recipe for years. This is definitely the one.

This is a standard ratio for congee (I sometimes make a smaller batch using 1/2c rice and 6c water. It's a great after-Thanksgiving recipe. Instead of stock I use water and leftover turkey bones. Then top with shredded turkey, soy, green onions, sesame oil and Chinese pickled radishes.

Simplified: Don't wash t rice! (you want the starch) 1 rice/8 water. Thick cut ginger, coarsely chopped skin-on chicken thigh (keeps it from sticking), dry pork stock, chopped scallions whites. Bring to boil in PRESSURE COOKER. Put on the top, bring it pressure, cook 15 min. Turn it off and let it depressurize un-assisted. Total time might be an hour. Add topping of choice (I like scallions, dried shrimp, a bit of salted crab, a little sesame oil) Thin as needed with more stock. YUM!

I've just made a version of this, inspired by the wonderful blog The Woks of Life, which speeds up the process by washing and freezing the rice for a minimum of 8 hours. The frozen rice cooks to a creamy texture in less than half an hour. Quick and easy comfort food if you keep a portion of washed rice in the freezer!

I've always used arborio rice to make congee! 1 cup rice, 10-12 cups low sodium chicken stock, 1 tablespoon kosher salt in a slow cooker for 10-14 hours. Garnish at the table with cilantro, grated ginger, shredded chicken, tamari, and Sriracha. So simple and good

Start with under-salted chicken stock because it concentrates the salt as it cooks down. You can always add salt later, if needed.

This is my new favorite dish! I made it because I was sick, and now I'm thinking-- Thank God I got sick! I do think that the kind of rice you use matters, though. Sushi rice has a high quantity of starch. I live in Italy, so I used Arborio rice (for risotto) which is very similar to sushi rice. The congee came out unbelievably thick, rich and creamy, and I just don't think I would've got the same result from any other rice-- say Basmati for example.

Second the suggestion to add the ginger along with the rice for more flavor (I added 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger). I tweaked the recipe by adding about a pound or so of boneless chicken thighs along with the rice. At the one hour mark, I was able to shred the meat easily with a wooden spoon. If it makes a difference, I mixed in about a tablespoon of sesame oil to the rinsed rice before adding it to the boiling chicken broth (11 cups).

Instant Pot non-veg version for 2: Salt and pepper 2 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on). Saute on high in hot olive oil (1 tbs) until the skin acquires some color. Add a knob of thick-sliced ginger, a couple of dried shiitake mushrooms broken into pieces, 1 cup of rice, 4 cups of stock. Set to High Pressure for 20 minutes, natural release. Chicken should fall off the bone. Ladle into bowls, top with toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions and furikake. Enjoy your time in heaven.

I used jasmine rice, and added chopped ginger, sesame oil, and some chopped shitake mushrooms to the rice and stock. I also marinated some boneless chicken thighs in a marinade of soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic paste, and a tad of brown sugar, grilled and shredded them, and topped the congee with them. The result was delicious.