So, to no one's surprise, I missed the deadline for initial submission of Pledge Week posts. Rather than mail it in, I'm whipping up something quick and simple: crockpot chicken congee.
Like much of my life at the moment, the photo is a bit out of focus.
This recipe is a mild adaptation of one published by the NY Times.
combine 2 cups brown rice and 2 quarts chicken stock (brought to boil separately) in a crock pot. Cook on low all day, stirring every couple of hours if you can. When the rice cooks down to a porridge, it's ready. Alternatively, this can be cooked on the stovetop. It takes a couple of hours on low. Monitor the liquid level so that it does not dry out. You can always add water to maintain consistency (thick porridge, not thin gruel). And the leftovers will thicken considerably due to all the starch. Just add more water or stock.
The magic lies in the mix-ins and toppings. I served this with spinach (sauteed with chopped garlic and ginger), fried garlic and ginger, toasted sesame seeds (white and black, because that's what I had), chopped green onion, and splashes of soy sauce, sesame oil, and hot chile oil. But let your imagination rule. A common mix-in is a raw egg, which will cook from the residual heat of the congee. Or you could add chopped, leftover pork chops (I did this one night), chicken, fish, or almost any leftover veggies.
So if you need to curl up on the sofa with a tear-jerker movie or a good book, a hot bowl of this will feed your soul. And who doesn't need a little soul food these days?
So, Asian risotto?
risotto should have some "tooth" left to the rice. It should be creamy, but the rice grains still distinct. Congee is porridge -- no distinct grains left.
Is it a mushy as it looks? It sounds good to me either way, but I'm thinking the texture could be a hard sell for my wife. Then again, that means more leftovers for me...
consistency is similar to thick oatmeal.
Any reason white rice won't work? Planning on giving it a shot tomorrow but white is what I have on hand.
White will work fine. Will cook faster.
So basically this is just double the usual liquid to rice ratio?
This is four to one. I normally do three parts liquid to two of rice when making rice.
Interesting. I'll have to try.
I'll report back moderate success. I enjoyed quite a bit, but over-topped. Kids liked some of the toppings (chicken, a carrot/celery stir fry) but not others (mushrooms, spinach). Philosofette indicated a preference for straight up stir fry served over normally cooked rice.
yea, it's not meant to be stir fry. Different things. Tell Philosofette that you like pizza better than congee too, but sometimes you don't want pizza. 🙂
But otherwise, how did the congee turn out?
The congee itself was perfect. So simple too. I don't know that it'll get regular rotation, but from time to time I'll break it out.