Congee (or Jook or Okayu, &ct.) - How Did Your Mother Make It?

Rice cooker (e.g. Zojirushi) and ones you find at Chinese and some Japanese supermarkets will have a congee setting. Though the results can vary. On some of the older models, I have had to up the cooking time by an additional hour. Generally it was 2:1 or 3:1 when I tried it (as did family at home).

For me I prefer that each grain of rice bursts so you get a fluffy texture (looks like pillows of liquid clouds). If you want to achieve a creamier texture, add some yuba/tofu skin during the cooking process.

In Northern California there are a few Taiwanese small plates type restaurants where the carb of choice is actually their Taiwanese porridge, which is more of a very soft rice consistency, and the liquid is thickened from cooking the rice. This is more like a 1/3 or 1/2 way from cooking Cantonese congee, maybe with less water and looks more like risotto (though you still have the thickened liquid water). They also tend to cook it with yams which can be quite tasty together.

Congee specialist restaurants in Hong Kong (the neighborhood more old school places) do a blend of old crop rice and new crop rice, like a distant parallel to how traditional sushi restaurants in Japan and some high end US places blend their sushi rice to get a balance of texture and flavor. Some of the more old school places go as far as letting the rice soak in a little water (but not entirely) prior to cooking, with century eggs added in during the shallow soak (I forgot the exact reason for adding the century eggs). For those that offer fish congee, they buy cheap wild but super boney small fresh fish and pan fry them first with scallions and ginger before cooking together with the congee, imparting a wonderous smokey flavor in the process. Though if at home it’s probably easier to start with a base congee stock then cook ingredients in it separately (if you are not feeling well, lean meat/ground chicken or turkey breast/ and just a little salt, or just plain if doing cleansing).

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