Congee is rice porridge. At its core it is rice cooked in an excess of water or other liquid. Since rice grains are almost pure starch, they will absorb a surprising amount of water so a large volume is required to get the right porridge consistency. Even after cooking, the rice will continue to absorb the liquid so it is best to consume congee almost immediately, though you could reconstitute it with hot water. An advanced rice cooker, pressure cooker or instant pot may have a “congee” setting, especially if it’s from Asia, where you just press the button and it does the rest. Sure takes the guess work out of cooking it.
Since I’m Filipino, I’m going to describe some Filipino congee recipes below.
The basic Filipino congee is called lugaw, which is rice, often glutinous, boiled in an excess of water. To this is added various viands and condiments like tofu, pork, beef, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, toasted garlic, ginger, scallions, etc. Note that these are added to the congee after it has been cooked and served. It’s up to the diner what items to add and in which proportions.
A step up is arroz caldo. The rice is cooked in chicken stock rather than water. Then pieces of chicken are added. Traditionally, an entire chicken is boiled with ginger, then the chicken is removed and the resulting stock is used to cook the rice. Then the chicken is added back to the congee. Saffron is often added to get a vibrant yellow color. For the more adventurous, there is also goto, made with ox tripe rather than chicken.
Finally, I have to mention champorado, which is a sweet porridge. To the basic congee, add cocoa powder, sugar, and milk. You can substitute coconut milk if you like. If you like it sweeter you can use evaporated milk. If you like it really, really sweet, you can use condensed milk.
