BSJ’S CONGEE
A recipe for “Instant Pot Congee with 8-Minute Egg” follows the recipe below for traditional congee.
My evergreen recommendation against colds inside and out is congee.
I learned about congee, the Asian rice porridge, in the bitter heart of a Chicago winter. Plus, I had a cold; I was as congested as that same city’s freeways.
A friend took me to Chinatown for a bowl of congee, swirled with searingly spicy chili oil. That congee opened the dampers—and stoked the furnace.
My evergreen recommendation against colds inside and out is congee. It is as simple as two-plus-two and has a millennia-rich history of working its magic on folk frozen or ill.
The word “congee” is originally Tamil (kanji) and the dish goes by many names throughout southeast Asia and, as a result, may be known as such in restaurants hereabouts owned by cooks from these same places.
It’s called “juk” or “jook” by the Cantonese and Koreans; “zhou” in Mandarin; “khao tom” by the Thai; and, of course, “kanji” at some Indian eateries that might offer it.
The key to cooking congee is to use both regular as well as sticky rices, to leave them be atop the stove for a couple of hours so that their kernels very much break down, then to offer add-ins or toppings from a huge raft of possibilities, each dependent on its purpose at table: hot and spicy things to clear passageways and spark spirits; leftovers to use up foods needing one last go-around; and green and other colorful things for the way that they both lift flavor as well as sparkle eyes.
RECIPE: BSJ’s Congee
Serve 4-6
Ingredients
3/4 cup jasmine or other “regular” white rice
1/2 cup glutinous, “sweet” or “sushi” rice
8 cups water or thin chicken stock, or combination of both
1 small to medium head Napa cabbage or Romaine lettuce, cored and outer leaves removed, and sliced as if into coleslaw, about 2 cups gently packed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1-2 teaspoons Kosher or other non-iodized salt, to taste
Good pinch freshly ground white or black pepper
1 2-inch knob ginger, peeled and sliced and cut into matchsticks
Garnishes of scallions, thinly sliced; Sriracha sauce or other spicy chili sauces, chile crisps or oils; roasted peanuts, crushed; hard-cooked or 8-minute eggs, halved or chunked; medium-firm tofu, cubed; leftover cooked shellfish, fish, pork, duck or chicken, cubed or shredded
Directions
Put both the rices into a large pot or bowl and rinse them in at least three changes of water, using your hands to slush them around, until the water runs mostly clear.
Put the rice into a large pot and add the water or stock. Cover, bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to low or medium-low, leaving the lid on a crack, and cook very slowly for 2 hours, stirring once in a while to keep the rice from adhering to the bottom of the pot. The cooked, broken-up rice should come to resemble a thick porridge.
To serve, bring the congee back to a good bubbly boil, add the cabbage or lettuce, soy and fish sauces, salt and pepper, and the ginger matchsticks, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes.
Serve, very hot, in bowls with whatever garnishes you set out for adding to the congee.
Instant Pot Congee with 8-Minute Egg
RECIPE: Instant Pot Congee with 8-Minute Egg
Adapted from the recipe above and Melissa Clark at cooking.nytimes.com. Serve 4-6
Ingredients
2-4 large eggs, refrigerated
3/4 cup jasmine or other “regular” white rice
1/2 cup glutinous, “sweet” or “sushi” rice
8 cups water or thin chicken stock, or combination of both
1 small to medium head Napa cabbage or Romaine lettuce, cored and outer leaves removed, and sliced as if into coleslaw, about 2 cups gently packed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1-2 teaspoons Kosher or other non-iodized salt, to taste
Good pinch freshly ground white or black pepper
1 2-inch knob ginger, peeled and sliced and cut into matchsticks
Garnishes of scallions, thinly sliced; Sriracha sauce or other spicy chili sauces, chile crisps or oils; roasted peanuts, crushed; hard-cooked or 8-minute eggs, halved or chunked; medium-firm tofu, cubed; leftover cooked shellfish, fish, pork, duck or chicken, cubed or shredded
Directions
Make the eggs: Gently lower the eggs in a pot of boiling water to cover them by 1 inch. Lower the heat to the barest simmer and cook for precisely 8 minutes. Meantime, prepare an ice bath with plenty of ice and just enough water to allow the cubes to move. When the eggs are cooked, remove them from the pot and immediately place them in the ice bath, knocking the shells gently with the back of a spoon (cracking them slightly) so that a bit of cold water can seep in.
When the eggs are way cold, peel them gently and place them in cool (not hot or warm) water, to rest.
Put both the rices into a large pot or bowl and rinse them in at least three changes of water, using your hands to slush them around, until the water runs mostly clear.
Put the rices into the pot of an electric pressure cooker (such as an Instant Pot) and add the water and/or chicken stock. Set the pressure to High and cook for 30 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally.
Unseal the pot and check the rice. If it isn’t soft or runny enough for your taste, cook on High Pressure again for 2 minutes and manually release the pressure. Set the pot to Warm mode.
Uncover the pot and add to it the cabbage or lettuce, soy and fish sauces, salt and pepper, and the ginger matchsticks, and stir to mix and to wilt the greens.
Serve, very warm, in bowls with whatever garnishes you set out for topping or adding to the congee. Split each egg lengthwise with a very sharp, thin knife (such as a filet knife) and set the halves into each bowl of congee served.