# Congee (rice porridge) is really good! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 7, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381 "2020-10-07T02:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/1 "2020-10-07T02:39:10Z")
I’d long heard of it, and decided to make some tonight in my Instant Pot. Approximate recipe: 3/4 cup short-grain rice 6 cups water Onion powder and garlic powder A dash of red/black pepper mix, and a dash of ginger One can of Hormel Chicken 45 minutes on pressure, and then let it come down for about 20 minutes. Released pressure, and am eating a bowlful right now. Mmmmmm! I may later make some where I fry up onions and use fresh chicken, but this was fine for now. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/2 "2020-10-07T03:26:40Z")
Early in our marriage there was a year it was just the two of us for Thanksgiving (my wife worked for a small daily newspaper, so holidays weren’t guaranteed.) After we had done everything we could think of with the leftovers, we consulted the Betty Crocker International cookbook and decided to try congee rather than carcass soup. It was good, but pre pressure cooker it wasn’t worth the time. Time to try it again with fresher ingredients and better equipment. Plus, 35 or so years on I’ll probably appreciate the porridge consistency more. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/3 "2020-10-07T03:28:14Z")
A friend of mine always put sliced Chinese sausage in hers. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/4 "2020-10-07T03:42:55Z")
With hard boiled eggs. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/5 "2020-10-07T04:02:02Z")
I saw a few YT videos on how to make it, and it seems to be something made in a Crock Pot (or, back in the day, set on a low-fired stove) overnight, for breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/6 "2020-10-07T05:24:01Z")
My Chinese relatives live on Chicken. And Rice. And Chicken Rice. And sometimes (particularly the old ones) Chicken Rice Porridge (probably with just chicken stock added, made from the bones and scraps of the many chickens). My mother is from Korea. She likes rice, and rice soup, and rice porridge, but given her preference, it’s going to be a vegetable soup/porridge. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/7 "2020-10-07T16:08:49Z")
I need some kind of pickled vegetables (e.g. mustard root) to drop in my congee. The Chinese long donut is optional. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/8 "2020-10-08T04:05:27Z")
I’ve seen a multitude of savory recipes from southeast Asia, and sweet recipes from Scandinavia. I may also try some of those. I know rice isn’t native to Scandinavia, but they may have been adapted from other grains native to the region. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ukulele_ike1/32/4613_2.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike1)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/9 "2020-10-08T04:08:20Z")
Century eggs, baby, Century eggs. > **[Century egg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Century eggs (Chinese: 皮蛋; pinyin: pídàn; Jyutping: pei4 daan2), also known under a wide variety of names (see infobox), are a Chinese egg-based culinary dish made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. > Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey color, with a creamy consistency and strong flavor... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/10 "2020-10-08T04:12:07Z")
No, thanks! (Sorry.) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ukulele_ike1/32/4613_2.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/11 "2020-10-09T03:53:43Z")
Come on…tear the locks from the doors! Tear the very doors from their jambs! Those eggs are TASTY in the jook. I’ve only had them in Brooklyn or Manhattan Chinatown restaurants, though. Don’t, uh, keep them in the house. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/12 "2020-10-09T04:03:18Z")
Jook is always something I mostly was fed only when I was sick growing up, so I still associate it with that. My father would make it every now and then (and still makes it occasionally), and whenever he does he makes a big pot and goes through the fridge and just tosses in pretty much whatever he finds. It’s “Dad’s Surprise Jook.” You never know what’s going to be in there. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/13 "2020-10-09T04:49:02Z")
Asians really know how to do rice porridge! Congee is good, but Indonesian _bubur_ is even more insanely good. It’s really about the toppings, just like luscious popcorn is about the salt, butter, and more exotic flavorings like cheese, sugar, chili powder, or whatever. Indonesians top their _bubur ayam_ (literally, chicken-rice porridge) with, among other things: - shredded cooked chicken - ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce - you can make it yourself by combining soy sauce and honey) - sambal (a paste of extremely hot chili peppers) - finely chopped green onions - crunchy soy beans (like corn nuts, but with soy) - a local chicken jerky; any shredded jerky would be a reasonable substitute - finely chopped hard boiled eggs - more intensely flavorful chicken broth …and probably six or seven other things I’m forgetting. Anyway, the point is: be creative! A good basic rice porridge, well flavored with chicken broth and/or coconut milk, is a palette for you to add all kinds of deliciousness. Mmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/14 "2020-10-09T04:52:27Z")
Cairocarol, that sounds really good! Thanks for telling me about it. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/15 "2020-10-09T04:55:19Z")
Your basic recipe sounds great. (Possibly vary by substituting some coconut milk for part of the water, or add part of a packet of powdered coconut milk to the existing mix). ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congee-rice-porridge-is-really-good/922381/16 "2020-10-09T16:15:04Z")
Hate it, it is a textural problem for me. Not pleasant at all. I’ve got much more palatable ways of cooking rice.