Chinese Chicken and Vegetables Congee Recipe
Popular Asian Rice Porridge Great for those with a Cold, Flu
© Yahan Wu
Oct 12, 2009
With the temperature starting to dip as summer fades away, the common and seasonal cold is an annoying global illness, with more than one billion colds per year reported in the United States alone. Traditionally, any member of Chinese families who has a cold were only allowed to take hot chicken soup and chicken congee, but this easy-to-make dish is also a favorite for all occasions and various varieties can be found in Asian countries.
Congee can be made in a pot or in a rice cooker and is found in China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Portugal, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma.
Rice Porridge a Balanced Breakfast Meal
There are many regional variations of Chinese congees or zhou in Mandarin. For example, Cantonese congee is made with white rice boiled many times its weight of water for a long time until the rice breaks down and becomes a gelatinous white porridge. Congees made in other regions may use different types of rice with different quantities of water resulting in a thicker or more gelatinous product.
It is often eaten with zha cai, salted duck eggs, lettuce and dace paste, bamboo shoots, youtiao, rousong, pickled tofu, wheat gluten, with other condiments, meat or century eggs. Congee is often eaten with fried bread sticks known as youtiao. Congee with youtiao is commonly eaten as breakfast in many areas in China.
Congee for All Ages and those Ill
Besides eaten as an everyday meal, congee is a food therapy for those feeling unwell. It is also eaten by those who have trouble chewing. In China, congee has also been used to feed young infants. However, the cooking time is much longer and because it is for infants, the congee is not seasoned with salt or any other flavoring.
How to Cook Chicken and Vegetables Congee
- Preparation:
2½ hours
20 min prep
Serves: 6
- Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups of washed rice
- 8 cups of water
- 6 large chicken thighs (can use any part of the chicken or substitute with beef or pork)
- 1/2 cup dried scallops
- 5 garlic cloves, skinned and crushed
- (optional) 1 slice fresh ginger, thick, crushed (2cm)
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons Chinese wine or sherry wine
- 1 tablespoon soya sauce
- 1 tablespoon white pepper/black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 carrot (sliced about 1 cm in thickness)
- 1 head broccoli (chopped up to bite size)
- 2 eggs
- Chopped green onion
- Chopped cilantro
- 1 dash white pepper
Instructions:
- Cut the chicken thighs up into two inch lengths. Marinate chicken with the oyster sauce, Chinese wine/sherry, soy sauce, pepper, sugar, Worcestershire sauce and sesame oil.
- Leave the chicken to marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 min. or longer (the longer it is left to marinate, the tastier the chicken will be).
- Grab a large pot, pour the rice, water, ginger, garlic and dried scallops in.
- Boil on a low heat for about 1 hour (this is to bring out the flavor or the spices and scallops).
- Check on the congee frequently and give it a stir, so that the rice doesn't stick and burn at the bottom of the pot. The congee is boiled at low heat, so that the congee will be smooth and the more frequently you stir the congee, the faster the rice grains will break down, making the porridge smoother and tastier.
- Pour in the carrots, and allow the congee to continue simmering.
- Take the chicken out of the fridge, and pour it into the congee. (A fair bit of water would have disappeared by now; so adding the chicken won't cause it to overflow)
- Add 2 cups boiling hot water into the pot, and stir the congee. Allow this to cook for about 15 minutes.
- Add the broccoli into the pot.
- Allow the congee to cook until desired thickness and then bring it to a boil, while continuously stirring it.
- Once it boils, turn the heat off, and drop two eggs inside.
- Leave it for about 30 seconds and give it a good stir to break up the eggs, mixing it well into the congee.
- Ladle into bowls, and garnish.
 |
 |
 |
 |
