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Congee - Rice Porridge

Image credit to: Beth Harris - Boston Organics

Ingredients

1 cup medium or short grain rice
10 cups of liquid in total including 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
3 cloves of garlic smashed
Thumb sized piece of ginger peeled
Other seasonings as desired: turmeric can be a nice addition and add color
Vegetables: Pretty much any vegetable will do! Because the finished product is soup-like pay attention to piece-size - smaller is generally better. Vegetables can be roasted ahead of time or added towards the end of the rice cooking time. Softer vegetables like squash and sweet potatoes, if not roasted, will fall apart imparting an earthy flavor and warm hue to your congee. Frozen corn is super easy and excellent! Any type of thinly slivered cabbage would be welcome.
Protein: eggs; leftover, fish, chicken, pork or shrimp would all do well here.
Toppings: soy sauce, black vinegar, sriracha, chile oil, chopped peanuts, scallions, fried shallots, sesame seeds, furikake, cilantro, lime wedges, sesame oil, fish sauce

Recipe

Mix rice with water/stock mixture in large stock pot and add three cloves of smashed garlic and thumb sized piece of peeled ginger, bring mixture to a boil. The contents will seem impossibly thin and insubstantial at this point but trust me here, it all comes together in the end. Once mixture comes to boil, turn it down to simmer, put lid on, inserting wooden spoon between the lid and the pot to allow the steam to vent and let it simmer, stirring occasionally for about 75 minutes.

Meanwhile peel, finely chop and roast (optional) root vegetables to concentrate their flavors that roasting imparts. Roasting mushroom amps up the umami boost. Wash and thinly slice greens.

While rice is cooking and vegetables are roasting cooked eggs (optional) until jammy (about 7 minutes). Other protein options include leftover shredded chicken or pork, cubed tofu, shrimp.

Once rice resembles porridge - barely distinguishable grains in a glutinous backdrop fish out garlic and ginger then add raw vegetables allowing them to soften in the hot liquid, add greens last. S

et up a garnish-your-own-bowl bar with roasted root vegetables, roasted mushrooms, slivered scallions, chopped cilantro, chopped peanuts, black vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, chile oil and let everyone have at it!

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