Chicken and ginger congee
A long, slow simmer that needs almost nothing from you
mostly unattended
Keeps three days in the fridge. The rice keeps drinking liquid as it sits, so loosen leftovers with a splash of hot stock or water as you reheat.
Rice porridge is what people reach for when they are unwell, from Guangzhou to Manila to Chennai, and every version rests on the same idea. Cook rice for far longer than any packet suggests and the grains give up their shape entirely, turning a pot of stock into something soft, savoury and close to creamy without a drop of cream. This one takes ninety minutes on the lowest heat, and nearly all of that time is yours. A chicken thigh poaches in the pot and comes out in shreds. Slices of ginger go in whole for warmth and come out again before the bowl is filled, so the flavour stays and the fibre does not. Start it after lunch or early in the evening. The kitchen does the rest.
Ingredients
Contains: Gluten, Soya, Celery
- 150 gwhite rice, jasmine or long-grain, rinsed until the water runs clear
- 1.5 lclear chicken stock, home-made and strained, or a good stock cube
- 1chicken thigh fillet, skin removed
- 3 sliceginger, peeled, sliced, infused in the pot and lifted out before serving
- salt
- 2 tspsoy sauce
- 1 pinchfinely ground white pepper — optional
Method
Rinse the rice under cold water until it runs clear, then tip it into a large, heavy pan with the stock, the chicken thigh and the ginger slices. Bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down to the lowest possible simmer, cover loosely and leave it, stirring every 15 minutes or so to stop it catching on the bottom. After 30 minutes, lift the chicken out onto a plate.
Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it into small pieces with two forks, discarding any bits of fat, then stir it back into the pot.
Keep the pot at the same low simmer for a further 45 to 50 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice has completely broken down and the whole pot looks like a thick, smooth porridge with no separate grains left. Add a splash more stock if it gets too thick to stir easily.
A heat diffuser under the pan makes the lowest simmer easier to hold if your hob runs hot.
Fish out every slice of ginger and discard them. Season with salt and the soy sauce, tasting as you go, and stir in the white pepper now if you are using it.
Ladle into bowls and eat hot. It thickens further as it cools, so loosen with a little extra hot stock if it sits before serving.
Watch-points
- Use a stock that is clear and strained, with nothing floating in it. A good cube is fine.
- Slice the ginger, let it simmer for flavour, then lift out and discard every piece before serving. None of it should end up in the bowl.
- Leave out coriander, spring onion and pickles, whatever the recipe you remember calls for. They are not part of this version.
- Black pepper stays off the table. If you use the white pepper at all, keep it to the single pinch below.
Some hospitals allow fresh ginger cooked into a dish. The leaflet this book follows lists spices under foods to avoid, so this book infuses the slices for flavour and lifts every one back out. Leave it out entirely if you have been told to.
Some hospitals allow a pinch of ground pepper. The leaflet this book follows lists spices under foods to avoid. Leave it out if you have been told to.
Stoma note: A thickening bowl. The collapsed rice and shredded chicken bind loose output well. Drink a glass of water alongside rather than in it.
Make it more nourishing
- Stir a 15 g knob of butter or a tablespoon of double cream through each bowl just before serving.
- Whisk a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder into the stock before you add the rice. You will not taste it and it lifts the protein.
- Use two chicken thighs instead of one for a heartier, higher-protein bowl.
- Beat an egg into the hot congee for the last two minutes of cooking, stirring it through in ribbons.
Swaps
- Instead of chicken thigh, use chicken breast
- leaner, though thigh shreds more easily and stays moist through the long simmer
- Instead of poaching a raw thigh, use leftover roast chicken, shredded, stirred in for the last 10 minutes
- no poaching step. The rice still does all the work