Thai Congee, Rice Porridge / ImportFood.com recipe

Thai Congee, Rice Porridge

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Delicious, warm soup for the heart and soul, this is an everyday meal that is often eaten by someone feeling ill similar to the way chicken soup might be used in America. In Thailand you can always find a street vendor offering congee, known in Thai as "Joke" (taken from Cantonese language), early in the morning. This is often accompanied with Thai donuts. A similar recipe is khao tom which is not as thick as joke. Enjoy the pictures below as you can see a vendor making Joke the traditional way. Simple and delicious, and not only nutritious but also easy to eat so it's a fine remedy for someone feeling ill. We offer an instant joke porridge by Mama. Joke is part of our Sidewalk Tour of Thong Lor district in Bangkok. It's best made with broken rice, link below.

Here we show you how to make two versions: one seafood and the other with pork. Feel free to create the stock of your choice.

First Variation: Seafood Congee

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups jasmine broken rice
5 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 cups chicken broth or pork broth
1 1/2 cups cooked large shrimp (or ground pork or other meat you prefer)
1/4 cup sliced, cooked shiitake mushroom

Garnish:
Thai pepper powder
mushroom soy sauce
finely slivered fresh ginger, or our Thai ginger
spring onions
cilantro

Method
Boil jasmine rice with water, salt, and oil on medium heat. Keep stirring constantly until the rice is very soft and breaks apart (30-45 minutes).

Prepare the traditional stock using bullion cubes or pork bones.

Scoop about 1 1/2 cups cooked rice into another medium sized soup pot with 1 cup broth. Bring it to a boil, stirring, and season with a bit of soy sauce. Adjust the flavor as you prefer.

Transfer to a serving bowl. Top with cooked seafood, mushroom, onion and cilantro. Sprinkle with Thai pepper powder. Add a touch of dried ground chile at the end for added flavor. Serve hot and enjoy! See our Mama brand instant porridge.



Ingredients Ready		Preparing the Joke


Serve and Enjoy

Second Variation: Pork Congee

Ingredients For Stock
4 quarts of water
2 lbs pork bones (we used pork neck)
1 medium onion
1/2 head cabbage
1/2 white daikon radish
1 tablespoon sugar
6 whole white peppercorn
6 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon corriander seed
1.5 tablespoons salt
2 cubes chicken buillion

Ingredients For Pork Balls
1.5 cups ground pork
1 tablespoon finely-chopped garlic
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
2 tablespoons Golden Mountain Sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons tapioca flour

2 cups jasmine broken rice

Method
For soup stock, heat the water in a large pot. Add pork. Cut the onion in half and add to stock. Add cabbage. Slice daikon and add. Add sugar, peppercorn, garlic, corriander seed, salt, and buillion. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat and let it boil mildly for 20 minutes. Reduce heat and let simmer for another hour or so.

For pork balls, in a mixing bowl, add all ingredients into a large bowl and knead together. Form into little balls (just 1/2 inch in diameter, approximately) and set aside. Keep it in the fridge if you prefer.

To prepare the broken rice, put 5 cups of water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Add broken rice to the boiling water. Stir it well, and keep stirring it often. Reduce to simmer. After about 10 minutes, add more water. Add 1 cup at a time, every 10 minutes or so. After you've added 5 cups of water, the rice will be nice and mushy. Keep stirring and adding water to get the consistency of your preference.

Now it's time to make your congee. Ladle 1 scoop of cooked rice into a new, clean pot. Next, pour the desired amount of soup stock over the rice (about enough to cover the rice, or more if you prefer a more soupy style). Put this over medium heat, and add a few pork balls. Cook this for a few minutes until the pork is cooked. Now it's finally done!

Transfer to a serving bowl. Top with fried garlic (we made our own, see picture below), cilantro, ginger strips, and sprinkle with Thai pepper powder. Add a touch of dried ground chile at the end for added flavor (Thai style). Many people add a half-cooked egg also. Serve hot and enjoy! See our Mama brand instant porridge.



Ingredients Ready		Preparing the Stock


Preparing the Rice		Preparing the Garlic in Oil


Add Cooked Rice to a Pot		Add Stock To The Rice


		Serve and Enjoy!


Thai Congee -- Street Style! See a favorite Bangkok street vendor prepare it (click to enlarge).