Congee, or rice porridge, is also known as jūk and comes in many different Asian names and variations. I am personally more familiar with the Korean version similarly named juk (죽) and, as someone who loves rice, always found it to be a comforting dish. I remember growing up, I would watch American media with scenes depicting rice porridge or gruel in a depressing manner (think Oliver Twist) and wondered why they didn’t enjoy it as much as I did.
Now, I have tried my hand at making a Chinese chicken congee which actually has a good amount of flavor to it. The recipe I used comes from Chef Melissa King who walked through her recipe in a TikTok I saw and ended up finding in a Williams Sonoma blog post.
I had always thought congee was something that you would have to spend hours cooking, so I was surprised by how simply and quickly this dish came together. Most of the ingredients are also accessible at your local supermarket and doesn’t require buying a ton of Asian ingredients that you might never use – the most you might have to worry about is the ground white pepper and toppings, but they are technically optional. For toppings, I added chopped cilantro, scallion, more white pepper, and my favorite crunchy garlic chili oil. Melissa King lists a bunch of other garnish options that you can mix and match.
Kyle and I both enjoyed this dish immensely so, needless to say, I hope to include this in my regular cooking repertoire.
