May 27, 2022, 4:06 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Interested in preparing rice a little differently? Congee from Asia is a versatile dish that you can also cook at home. In our recipe, we prepare the rice porridge with a Bali topping.
Strictly speaking, congee is a rice porridge from Asia. However, the term porridge doesn’t quite do the dish justice. With congee, the rice is simply cooked with a bit more water, making it particularly juicy. Like rice in general, congee can be seen as a base for various dishes. If you’re in a hurry, you can serve congee with some mushrooms, chicken, or bean sprouts. For this recipe, we’ve chosen a version of congee from Asia that’s particularly popular in Bali.
Originally, congee comes from India or China, but today the dish is eaten almost everywhere in Asia. And often for breakfast! What might taste like a warming lunch or dinner to us is often eaten early in Asia to fuel up for the day. The Western relative of congee would probably be risotto. The texture is similar to congee, but the Asian version is a bit silkier.
Also interesting: Homemade Chinese noodles – Recipe for Biang Biang from China
Preparing congee is quite simple. However, it’s important to allow plenty of time. The rice porridge needs to simmer for about an hour to achieve the desired creamy consistency. Feel free to modify the toppings or add other ingredients you crave. We’ve chosen the popular Bali topping because it’s a real flavor bomb, and a few crispy bites make the creamy dish even more interesting.
Recipe for Congee from Asia
Ingredients (for 2 people)
- 100 g rice
- 25 g pak choi
- 4 shallots
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 chili peppers
- 2 cm ginger
- 1 lime, 1 kaffir lime leaf
- 100 g coconut milk
- 1/2 tablespoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 stalk lemongrass
Preparation
- Wash the rice and then bring it to a boil in a pot with 400 ml of water and a pinch of salt. Stir the rice thoroughly, place the lid ajar, and let it simmer for an hour.
- Roughly chop half of the shallots and garlic cloves, one chili pepper, and the ginger. Mix garlic, shallots, chili, ginger, turmeric, coriander, a bit of salt, and pepper.
- Cut and wash the pak choi. Chop two more shallots, two garlic cloves, and one chili pepper.
- Heat oil in two pans. Heat lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf. Add shallot-garlic sauce. Stir in coconut milk and pak choi. Squeeze in the juice of one lime.
- Sauté garlic, shallots, and chili in the second pan.
- After an hour, the rice should have a porridge-like texture. Serve the sauce with pak choi and crispy toppings in a bowl.