Congee Three Ways

Congee is a magical dish. With a handful of rice (really, very little) and a whole lot of water, you can make dinner for a crowd. To round it out, add flavorful odds and ends you might have on hand like sweet potato, bits of meat or fish, leftover stock, and veggie scraps from last night’s stir fry prep. It’s easy to scale up, keeps well as leftovers, and warms the body from the inside out.

The simplest congee can be made with just rice and water, with garnishes like pork floss, fermented tofu, and sweet and spicy pickles. But this is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. To demonstrate the versatility of this dish, we share three congee preparations that you might come across in Taiwan: sweet potato congee, fish congee, and pork century egg congee.

All recipes are adapted from the Yun Hai Tatung Family Cookbook.

Sweet Potato Congee 地瓜粥

Yields 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1-2 medium orange sweet potatoes, peeled
• ½ Tatung rice cup Penglai Rice
• Water

To Serve

• Scallion, chopped, to taste
• Amber River Soy Sauce, to taste
• Su Chili Crisp Mala, to taste
• Frost Salt, to taste

Equipment

• Strainer (for washing rice)
• Tatung 6-Cup Steamer
• Maestro Wu Vegetable Cleaver
• Cutting board

Instructions

1. Chop the sweet potatoes in 2-3” cubes. Set aside.
2. Wash the rice, discarding the water three to four times, or until it runs clear.
3. Place the washed rice and sweet potato into the inner pot of the Tatung. Fill the inner pot with water to line 3.
4. Add 1 Tatung rice cup of water to the outer pot. Place the inner pot inside the Tatung steam cooker and cover with the outer pot lid.
5. Press the switch and let steam for 30 minutes. Once the switch pops, let sit for an additional 10 minutes.
6. Give it a good stir to incorporate the sweet potato into the rice.
7. To serve, ladle the congee into individual bowls and top with your preferred amount of chopped scallion, soy sauce, salt, and chili crisp.

Fish Congee 魚粥

Yields 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 white fish fillet (like flounder or sea bass), par frozen for 15 min to make the fish easier to slice
• ½ Tatung rice cup Penglai Rice
• Premade dashi or fish broth
• Water

To Serve

• Ginger, peeled and thinly slivered, to taste
• Chinese celery, finely chopped, to taste
• Frizzled Ginger in Sesame Oil, to taste
• Fleur de Sel, to taste

Equipment

• Strainer (for washing rice)
• Tatung 6-Cup Steamer
• Maestro Wu Vegetable Cleaver
• Maestro Wu Fish Knife
• Cutting boards

Instructions

1. Wash the rice, discarding the water three to four times, or until it runs clear.
2. Place the washed rice into the inner pot of the Tatung. Fill the inner pot with dashi (or fish broth) to line 3.
3. Add 1 Tatung rice cup of water to the outer pot. Place the inner pot inside the Tatung steam cooker and cover with the outer pot lid.
4. Press the switch and let steam for 30 minutes.
5. While the congee is steaming, thinly slice the fish fillet. Slice diagonally to the cutting board to increase the surface area of each piece.
6. Once the Tatung switch pops up, add the sliced fish into the congee and stir. Add ⅓ rice cup of water to the outer pot, cover the Tatung, and let cook for another 5-7 minutes.
7. To serve, ladle the congee into individual bowls then top with your preferred amount of ginger, Chinese celery, frizzled ginger in sesame oil, and fleur de sel.

Century Egg Pork Congee 皮蛋瘦肉粥

Yields 2 servings

Ingredients

For marinated pork

• ¼ lb pork shoulder
• 1 pinch white pepper
• 1 tsp Taiwanese rice wine
• 1 tsp cornstarch (or sweet potato starch)
• 1 tsp Frost Salt
• 1 tsp White Sesame Oil
• 1 tbsp water

For Congee

• ½ Tatung rice cup Penglai Rice
• Water
• 2 century eggs (preserved duck eggs)

To Serve

• Cilantro, chopped, to taste
• Fried shallots, to taste
• White Sesame Oil, to taste
• White pepper, to taste
• Frost Salt, to taste

Equipment

• Mixing bowl (for marinating pork)
• Strainer (for washing rice)
• Tatung 6-Cup Steamer
• Maestro Wu Meat Cleaver
• Cutting board

Instructions

1. Wash the rice, discarding the water three to four times, or until it runs clear.
2. Place the washed rice into the inner pot of the Tatung. Fill the inner pot with water to line 3.
3. Add 1 rice cooker cup of water to the outer pot. Place the inner pot inside the Tatung steam cooker and cover with the outer pot lid.
4. Press the switch and let steam for 30 minutes.
5. While the congee is cooking, hand mince the pork shoulder: slice the pork into slivers, chop in the opposite direction to make a dice, spread out the diced pork, then run your cleaver multiple times roughly across the pork to make a mince. The texture shouldn’t be uniform. Place the minced pork into the mixing bowl.
6. Into the mixing bowl, add the white sesame oil, salt, white pepper, rice wine, cornstarch (or sweet potato starch), and 1 tbsp water. Mix thoroughly until the pork absorbs the liquid. Set aside to marinate.
7. Continue to prep the century eggs. Prep the eggs, then dice them to roughly match the size of the pork mince.
8. Once the Tatung switch pops, add the pork and century egg into the congee. Stir to incorporate. Add ⅓ rice cup of water to the outer pot, cover the Tatung, and let cook for another 5-7 minutes.
9. To serve, ladle the congee into individual bowls and top each with your preferred amount of white pepper, salt, fried shallots, and cilantro.