3 Methods for Making Traditional Congee, Chinese Rice Porridge (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to smooth congee? ›

Beancurd skin is the secret ingredient to ensuring the texture of each bowl of congee comes out right. Adding the beancurd skin helps to make the rice grains mushy, and thus easier to cook down to a smooth consistency.

Congee is essentially a rice porridge made by boiling rice in a great deal of water until it breaks down into a pudding-like consistency. When made with water, the taste of congee is very bland, but there are many ways that you can add sweet or savory flavors.

Congee (/ˈkɒndʒiː/, derived from Tamil கஞ்சி [kaɲdʑi]) is a form of savoury rice porridge made by boiling rice in a large amount of water until the rice softens. Depending on rice-water ratio, the thickness of congee varies from a Western oatmeal porridge to a gruel.

Porridge is a staple dish in a variety of cuisines around the world. Some examples of different types of porridge include congee, a Chinese rice porridge; kasha, a Russian buckwheat porridge; polenta, an Italian cornmeal porridge; khichari, an Indian rice-and-lentil porridge; and asaro, a Nigerian yam porridge.

For a healthier version, I frequently recommend using brown rice, or even barley or millet. Simmer on very low heat for 1-2 hours or until rice is quite broken down.

Chicken stock or bone broth, which is the second key ingredient for congee, is also hydrating and provides a rich source of collagen. This protein is required to repair and heal the lining of the GI tract, which can be damaged due to diet and lifestyle stressors.

The secret is freezing uncooked rice overnight, which helps the rice break down much faster during cooking. I'm using jasmine rice, but any white rice will work–each variety will give you a slightly different congee consistency.

Congee is considered in TCM as a must-have breakfast dish. By jump-starting the digestive system congee injects the nutrients right where they are needed and naturally heals by nurturing the digestive system to maximise it's function. If you need to lose or gain weight congee can help.

Congee has a history as a famine food — rice stretched to last with the addition of extra water — and, more commonly nowadays, the ideal sick dish. Low-effort and gentle on the stomach, it's embraced as a go-to for belly aches, colds, or days of general discomfort.

Wash the rice.

White rice will always have some starch on the outside of each grain. Washing it off leads to a silkier, creamier congee. If you don't properly wash your rice, your congee could become really slimy and sticky, which won't get you the same light mouthfeel that properly cooked congee has.

Why is congee called congee? ›

The dish does tend to be associated with East Asian cuisine, so it is interesting to discover that the word “congee” has its origins in the Tamil kanji (also the Telugu and Kannada gañji, the Malayalam kanni and the Urdu ganji), from kanjī (“boilings”), referring to the water in which rice has been cooked.

Congee is considered a soothing meal because it is a warm and comforting dish that is easy to digest. It is made with rice that has been cooked until it has broken down into a porridge-like consistency, and is usually served with a variety of ingredients such as vegetables, meat, and herbs.

Many Asian countries have variations of rice porridge — there's okayu in Japan, juk in Korea, jok in Thailand, and lugao from the Philippines. In China, this staple dish is called congee, and it is standard fare for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner.

So, congee is a type of rice porridge, but not all rice porridge is congee-like the way all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Jook gets a step more specific: It's the English translation of the Cantonese name for rice porridge.

The range of sides that goes with congee is endless. Lovers of preserved will be spoilt for choice with options such as pickled cucumber, wheat gluten, pickled turnip, pickled white gourd, fermented bean curd, dried bamboo shoot, salted clam, salted duck egg, meat floss and all sorts of fried bean sticks.

Congee is considered in TCM as a must-have breakfast dish. By jump-starting the digestive system congee injects the nutrients right where they are needed and naturally heals by nurturing the digestive system to maximise it's function. If you need to lose or gain weight congee can help.

Basically, congee is the Chinese version of lugaw, but the key difference is the toppings. There is more variety when it comes to congee. While lugaw has very few toppings and is designed to be easy to digest (for those sick days), congee has more toppings that lean toward Chinese flavors.