Ingredients
1 cup long grain rice
3 qt stock (eg chicken)
2 tbsp chinese preserved turnip, minced
1 slice ginger root, minced
1 piece tangerine peel, soaked to soften, minced
1 salt
GARNISH
1 chopped green onion
1 chopped coriander
1 slivered preserved ginger
1 sliced tea melon
Directions
In all my years of eating and cooking Chinese food, I'd never tried
Congee (rice gruel) before yesterday. It just seemed so *bland* that
I thought it couldn't possibly be all that interesting. I was WRONG!
The recipe below gives a subtle but hearty "soup" which can be
garnished in a virtually infinite number of ways according to
personal taste. I found that I like just the basic stuff,
unembellished the best. I substituted half a cup of long grain rice
and half a cup of glutinous rice for the long grain rice and it
worked very well. The preserved turnip seems to be used mostly for
its salt content. I found it unnecessary to add any more salt to the
congee. The tangerine peel gives a very subtle, nice hint of exotic
perfume to the dish. The pot I made set up almost like a pea soup
when it cooled. Good stuff! Ridiculously easy too...
Congee (Jook)
Combine rice, stock, preserved turnip, ginger and tangerine peel in a
large soup pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered
approximately 1-1 1/2 hours or until the rice is thoroughly broken
up. Stir occasionally to prevent soup from sticking and add boiling
water if necessary. When done, soup should be thick and creamy. Add
salt to taste and garnish with any or all of the suggested garnishes.
Variations: Just before serving, add cooked chicken, pork, ham or
beef. Or with rice add diced forest mushrooms, soaked to soften or
dried shrimp.
From "The Regional Cooking of China" by Margaret Gin and Alfred E.
Castle, 101 Productions, San Francisco, 1975.
Servings: 6 servings
Congee (Jook) - Rice Gruel Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Rice; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Transcribed cooking instructions as a concept can be found far back into antiquity, in fact as far into history as the ancient Egyptians, and maybe further still. However, sadly, these early cook books were just primitive pictorial instructions for food preparation.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to experts are a few tablets in the Sumerian language which recount the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel exhilarated and blissful. As our culinary historical trip moves to more modern times we find some interesting books which date from the 14th Century - a recipe book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these books are unconnected to the curry that is familiar to us all today, but instead accounts of the types of food on the tables of the rich people of that period. In the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back a variety of spices and herbs from Arab cooking, including coriander, parsley, and basil. These new herbs and spices caused an eruption in manuscripts on food, most of which are now in private cookery archives. Over the following few centuries, the powerful and rich houses strove to serve up the most exotic banquets, and as a consequence, the best cooks and their recipes became highly prized. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 19th century that formal cookery and recipe books became popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to assembling, testing, and writing down popular recipes of the day. When we get to the 1900s, cook books are greatly in demand mostly due to more people being able to read, people having more leisure time and disposable income. The arrival of TV gave us TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. And that neatly brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing everyone to search through massive numbers of recipes just like those on this recipe site. |
We hope you enjoy this Congee (Jook) Rice Gruel recipe.
