Congee

Congee is easy to make, great to eat, and incredibly versatile. That’s what makes it an excellent addition to any cooking repertoire.

Ingredients

155g brown long grain rice
2500ml water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of white miso soup

1. You start with rice and water in a pan, plus the salt, and bring to a boil.
2. Stabilise it at a gentle simmer, then leave it for three and a half hours.
3. We want the rice to get to the point where it is really soft and starting to break down.
4. Provided you get the temperature right, you can pretty much leave it alone.
5. There’s only one thing you need to keep an eye on – the water level.
6. You need to keep an eye on the water level – if it gets too low, the rice will start sticking to the bottom of the pan, so make sure you add a little water to keep the rice from drying out.
7. A film will form on top of the rice, just skim in once or twice
8. We are topping ours with: steamed pak choi, fried garlic and spring onion, some furikake seasoning and chilli oil, slices of lotus root poached with turmeric, and half a preserved egg (order them online at Sous Chef UK).
9. However, congee does work beautifully on its own, or with any number of other ingredients. Mushrooms, fish, tofu and pork are all traditional and great places to start, but feel free to experiment.