When Is Congee Eaten?Ĭongee is typically eaten at breakfast, although there’s no reason you can’t enjoy it throughout the day. You could also just drizzle with a little sesame oil and fish sauce or soy sauce. Here, I show congee simply served with pickled radishes, fried shallots, cilantro and scallion. You can find many accompaniments to congee in the Asian grocery store.Ī woman from Shanghai who lived with us a number of years ago used to make congee with ground pork and thousand-year-old eggs, a traditional Chinese congee. Traditionally, congee is served with an assortment of condiments, such thousand-year-old eggs (these are not really a thousand years old!), fermented bean curd, Chinese pickles (pickled cucumbers or radishes), Chinese braised wheat gluten, and pork or fish “floss” (you can find this at Asian grocery stores – seasoned dry-sauteed pork or fish). Rice is added to the turkey stock and cooked until the rice breaks down to a smooth, creamy consistency. This stock cooks for several hours and then is strained. Sometimes I add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns as aromatics). Each Thanksgiving, as soon as the dishes are cleared from Thanksgiving dinner, I make a big pot of turkey stock by putting the entire turkey carcass in big pot. However, turkey congee has so much more flavor. Cooking with brown rice takes a little longer than white rice.Ĭongee is most often just rice cooked with water. Glutinous rice, also called sweet rice adds creaminess and body to the congee. Typically, white rice is used to make congee, but I usually make it with a mixture of white glutinous (“sweet”) rice and medium grain brown rice. I wanted to give her a taste of Thanksgiving, so the roasted turkey bone soup base used to make turkey congee was the perfect flavor component.Ĭongee can be made on the stove, in a rice cooker (some rice cookers have a congee setting), or in a slow cooker. Congee can also be made with leftover rice or raw rice. Recently, I made turkey congee for an elderly woman who was on a soft food/liquid diet. Congee is most often served for breakfast, but is also great for people who are sick and need nourishment. It’s easy to eat and digest so it’s good for many people, from babies to the elderly.

There are versions of congee in the Korean (called Juk), Japanese (called okayu) and Vietnamese (called cháo) culture too.Ĭongee is a versatile food. Congee is not unique to the Chinese culture, however. Congee, also called “shi fan” in the Mandarin dialect or “jook” in the Cantonese dialect, is basically rice cooked in water or broth until the rice breaks down into a smooth, creamy consistency. Turkey congee is a tradition in many Chinese American households after Thanksgiving. Turkey Brown Rice Congee is a wonderful way to use a leftover turkey carcass.

Japanese rice conji