The breakfast of champions

Congee, or jook, is rice porridge. You can think of it as watery, Chinese risotto, but that’s not really fair to either dish.

Congee is comfort food; good for breakfast, but also any time you want a warm, pleasant meal that sits well in your belly. I call it Chinese, but there are versions of it all over the place, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Historically, the name we use was borrowed from a similar dish in India.

The trick to congee is that it’s fairly bland, but you serve it with a variety of toppings to taste. The version I’m posting today uses a pressure cooker, which is perfect for the job, and it includes a ton of assorted toppings, including more meat than is traditional. In fact, it’s cooked with chicken, giving it a subtle but deeply meaty flavor.

Other than the rice and water ratio, most of this can be varied based on what you have handy and what you prefer, so feel free to substitute and improvise. However, quality matters; using premium versions of the various sauces has a big impact.

The basic toppings are the sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, and peanuts. Breakfast versions often add a soft-boiled egg. Really, it’s hard to go wrong, and once you get hooked on congee, you’ll never escape the craving.

Here’s what I use:

1 pack of Lap Cheong Chinese sausage
1 lb chicken thighs, with skin and bones
olive oil, to coat bottom of pot
garlic, crushed or chopped
ginger, crushed or chopped
12 cups water
1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon® Chicken Base (or 3 bouillon cubes)
1.5 cups of short-grained white rice, washed (sushi rice works well)
scallions, one bunch
peanuts, a large handful
soy sauce, the real kind
sesame oil; pure, not blended
fish sauce, ideally Red Boat
sriracha, such as the usual rooster

1. Steam sausages in trivet over a cup of water using 10 minute Manual mode with quick release
2. Allow sausages to cool, break them in half, and freeze in plastic bag
3. Pull the skin off the chicken and put aside for later
4. Saute the garlic and ginger in the pressure cooker
5. Add the water and bouillon, stirring them up
6. Add rice and place skinless chicken on top
7. Cook using Porridge mode, with natural release
8. Meanwhile, spread skins on plate and sprinkle heavily with soy sauce, then microwave for 3 minutes
9. Transfer skins to second plate, leaving rendered fat behind, and microwave for about 2 minutes, until crispy but not burned
10. Drain skins and allow to cool, then freeze in plastic bag
11. Chop up scallions and crush the peanuts, then refrigerate in plastic bags
12. Chop up about half a sausage (defrosting each half for about 15 seconds in the microwave, if frozen)
13. Crush some chicken skin into largish pieces (no need to defrost)
14. Once the congee is done, scoop out the chicken and shred it with a fork, removing the bones; freeze what you don’t use now, portioned out
15. To serve: pour congee into bowl and top with meats, toppings, and sauces, to taste

Makes about 6 servings. You should try to eat it all in the next few days, defrosting chicken and sausages proportionally. When reheating, you’ll want to add maybe a quarter cup of water to each bowl, to keep the thickness right.