Make Congee like the Cantonese (Shunde style) 

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. In the introduction, I (sort of erroneously?) used a Teochew/Thai-Chinese style of 'congee' called Khao Tom (ข้าวต้ม) to illustrate "too thin". This sort of thing totally exists within the Cantonese cooking system too: it's called tong faan (汤饭, Mandarin name 'paofan', 泡饭), is a homecooking classic, and is absolutely acceptable. And while obviously quite Teochew, both me and Steph quite like the restaurant where I took this footage (maps.app.goo.gl/6CqjizxR4AxcpGNs5). In hindsight, we probably should've just whipped up some too-thin congee ourselves to illustrate the point. 2. Because this is the internet, I really really want to emphasize that we are *not* giving Ethan Chlebowski shade for his congee or anything. In our upcoming couple videos, we're going to be going over a few dishes that exist in that... 'liminal-space-between-cultures' (next video, a popular bakery item in China these days; the following, episode two of our ongoing "western food in Asia" series), which's a particular passion of ours. So it's actually really interesting to see the direction his mind went with it - and the direction many congees online out there go. I've got a whole ramble-y discussion on the topic in the Substack post, for the curious. 3. If you don't have access to dried scallop or dried shrimp, fish sauce can hit similar notes. However, you would want to add it to the *final seasoning* of the congee - something like 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp should do the job. 4. The Patreon Discord was quick to correct us that in many places you *can* find broken rice, if you have a good Vietnamese grocer. It's called Gạo tấm, and makes for a popular dish in South Vietnam called Cơm tấm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C6%A1m_t%E1%BA%A5m . Still, our homemade-artisinally-broken rice also totally does the trick (and is not very difficult). 5. Oh! Also, if you happen to be China-based, broken rice is called "米砂". It is not super common, so you'd likely need to purchase it online. Do note that this is not the same thing as 碎米, which is *also* broken rice, but is a lower grade meant for animal feed. 6. If you happen to be working from already broken rice, you still do want to marinate the rice for ~15 minutes with the salt and peanut oil before starting the congee. That's all for now, might edit some more notes in in a bit :)

I remember when I first got into Asian cooking 5-6 years ago I bought the cheapest 50lb bag of jasmine rice from a brand I trust. When I got home that day, I was forced to learn that broken rice was a product on the market. Had lots of practice making congee for the next 4 months!

An interesting fact. I live in Brazil and we also have the exact same dish, we call it "canja", which is basically a rice porridge/soup usually with chicken and potato that eat when we are sick. There's obviously an asian influence that arrived here centuries ago. The name is almost the same, the idea is almost the same and the food is almost the same. I wonder how it went from Asia to Brazil lol

I can't believe you called my favorite style of congee "unhinged."

Interesting that the broken rice kernels are used for congee in China. I used to work at a rice mill whilst at UC Davis in N. California. I ran the machine than took the husks off the rice. Broken kernels were totally a function of how I set the machine...drums too close, nearly all the kernels were "dehusked"...with the drawback that it increased the broken %. We shot for 10% broken for normal Calrose, and 2% broken Calrose for sushi rice. Interestingly, the broken kernels weren't sold for consumption. We'd load railcars with the "brokens" and they'd be shipped to Anheuser-Busch's plant in Fairfield to make beer. 🤷‍♀️

I'm not too picky about my congee. I use 1 cup of medium grain rice to 10 cups of stock/water in my instant pot pressure cooker. Cook for 1 hour on high, with a natural release. Add the protein, some ginger, a little chili crisp, and any veg in the fridge I need to get rid of. Thanks for the video!

I definitely need to try more congee - I've only ever made it once, when I was ill and didn't have any appetite, but knew that I'd just feel worse if I didn't get some form of nourishment. It was a very slapdash, google-a-ratio then chuck-stuff-in-the-pressure-cooker affair. But a couple of mouthfuls and it was like a revelation: "oh yeah, I get why rice porridge is such a big thing for such a big proportion of the world's population now"

West African markets should also have broken rice available, It's traditional for many of the flavored rice dishes within West African cuisines (like Jollof rice for example). It's great for making kofte and stuffing. Glad I have another recipe in my back pocket!

I generally much prefer the okayu ratios to congee ratios, but you guys never dissapoint so I'm excited to see this recipe!!

Ever since I heard about broken rice for congee a year ago, I've been cutting my cook time in half by running it through an old coffee grinder that I hadn't got rid of yet.

My unhinged congee favorite is thai num tok inspired. Congee topped with grilled beef, cilantro, green onions, red onions, toasted crushed rice, lime, fish sauce, and shriracha!

Another easy way to make congee is to use leftover cooked rice. It takes absolutely no time to turn into mush once you start boiling.

In Tamil Nadu, we call our rice porridge "kanji", its usually very simple, just rice boiled to smithereens and served up with some salt, pepper and chilli if you're adventurous. It's a must have for anyone recovering from a fever.

When I was first seriously getting into Chinese food, I found congee too bland. But after trying it a few times with different add-ins, I was surprised to find I had developed a craving for it! After my neighborhood of Flushing in Queens became NYC's largest Chinese community, I had a plethora of places to have congee whenever I want. But since I'll soon be moving to a comparative Chinese-food desert, having your easy and typically well-explained method at my disposal will be very valuable to me. My thanks to you both!

For anyone who needs the tip, I actually can find broken rice at my SEAsian grocer here in the United States, the same brand I buy my jasmine rice too. Take a look, and they might have it.

I can't stop comparing congee to grits in my head while watching this, which makes me wonder if you could make some kind of congee with ham hocks and collard greens...

Congee taught to me by my mother in her Kitchen. Breaking down the rice made easer: We would lightly wash the Jasmine rice and then let it soaked overnight. By the next morning the rice will be soft enough it will be easier to break down when you boiled your rice. We use roast pork bones to make the broth for the congee at her restaurant she would use a hand blender to smooth out the texture of the congee when the rice has softened, it will be a lot quicker. Set the heat to low let rice simmer. I would add in a tablespoon of chicken bouillon, if you don’t have pork bones. The key to a good congee is the broth. Stirred the bottom of the pot so the rice doesn’t get burn. Once the congee is burn you have to throw out the congee and start all over again because the congee will have a burn taste to it. Dehydrated some Shiitake mushrooms and dry scallops overnight. Dice up the mushrooms and break apart the soft overnight and scallops. Strain the mushrooms and scallops water into the pot. It will give it some added favor to the congee. While the rice is continuing cooking add in your dice mushrooms with the rice. After the congee has the desired texture add in your: dry scallops, dry beans curd , mince water chestnuts, and mince Chinese preserves turnip while the congee is cooking. Then congee is also ready add in your quick ingredients just before the congee is done: marinate filet fish, fresh prawns, thousands years old eggs, ground pork or beef, or chicken, whatever you like in your congee. I generally like to shred some fresh young ginger and added to the congee. Seasoning your congee with white pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Topped your bowl of congee with diced green onions and cilantro. At the restaurant they charge five to six dollars depending if it seafood or not. With seafood we add shrimp, and fish fillets, for a medium size bowl, at home for free, just your love and time but you can you collect from your family members to buy things for yourself. 😂🤣🤣

My favourite and all that’s keeping my 83 year old dad healthy. broken Rice. Method many years ago from a very nice Chinese neighbour love from Australia. Cheese in congee

This is the first time I've come across a video that specifically talks about something from 顺德。 It's a city very close to my heart ❤

Day old left over rice and using a whisk is typically what happens in my house hold. I find i get the similar texture really quick. I do eat rice everyday though so it's more conivnient. I love fish and pork balls too. Sometimes ill so velveted pork slices which also works. Velveting is incrediblely affective in congee. Great recipe, reminds me of back in Hong Kong!

You two are awesome. Love this channel

Thanks for sharing this, I love your videos. It’s always educational and very detailed enough for a person who is not that familiar on how to cook Chinese dishes like me. So thanks a million for this. I hope you come out with a cook book with the same approach like your videos to inform and educate and teach people how to cook Chinese recipes. You make it seem to easy every single time in each video to cook Chinese food. ❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏

you hit it out of the park every time. i'm from HK and super picky with my congee. i can just tell from looking at the smoothness, consistency and shine whether it's done right or not. your congee looks incredible.

the self-made fanart at 1:55 is what we all needed. That is merch I would buy.

I'm stirring both ways, I can't be stopped

In Bangladesh and West Bengal in India, people est something very similar called fena-bhaat. The consistency is similar and it’s eaten with ghee, green chili, fried round slices of potato, fried fish, and even an egg omelette. It’s pure soul food.

I adore congee and am fortunate enough to be able to buy broken rice and even frozen prepped rice. learned so much from this video thank you i use way too much seasoning in my broth in this comforting wonderful dish. I will follow your steps precisely thank you so much!❤

I always put my rice and water into vitamix and lightly blend, before dumping into the pot.

Tried this recipe for the congee base with pork and century egg, came out great - thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

Perfect timing. I was just looking up Vietnamese cháo recipes yet always ending up on Chinese congee videos this week. 😂

Not sure if anyone has already mentioned, but you can gets bags of broken rice in the Thai section of any good store selling Asian food stuffs, since they use it to make Jook, their version of congee. BTW, I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but dried scallops are, unfortunately, insanely expensive over here in the Bay Area.

Broken rice is easy to come by here in Canada at any asian grocer and even in some standard grocery stores. If you don't have a specific asian grocer try a standard grocery store in an area more populated with asian people and there is a higher chance of finding it. I've also found grocery stores are usually pretty good about bringing in a specific product if you ask.

Perfection !!!!

Looks delish... And I learned stuff, too.

The schnauzer at the end of the video is always a highlight for me.

Awesome Video!!! I would really love to see a video on the different types of sweet congee or something like that if possible!!! Best wishes!!! 😊😊😊😊❤️❤️❤️❤️

When I heard about the broken rice type congee a while back, I mimicked the consistency with soaked rice (30 mins in water) in a food processor. I used about 3-4 pulses, and got the size you had in the video. These days, I prefer the consistency of congee from medium grain rice. And presoaking rice saves a lot of time in cooking, and keeps in the freezer.

I love Congee. It's quick, healthy, and budget friendly, too. Poor working class citizens from China 🇨🇳 would used to make this to get by. I eat this nearly every morning for breakfast.

Very informative thankyou

I really enjoy congee, and I haven't tried making this style before, I'll give it a go. I often cook Korean style juk (congee). 😊

Consistently, y'all make informative content that inspires me to try something on my own. Answering a question I didn't realize I wanted to ask anyone but my Cantonese mother (who doesn't always get where I'm coming from)! Random thing, I wish you had spoken about the word "congee" and how it has no relation to what Chinese people call this stuff lol

Congee is my new chicken soup. Ever since I tried the dried scallop version in a congee restaurant. My fave has got to have pi dan and seafood, with generous white pepper and gronions and cilantro. Sooooo good

Yeah, I'll acknowledge that when you come from a rice eating culture, you get picky about your rice. The first 2 are beloved childhood favorites but dad would also make this chilli-scallion-soy sauce condiment to put on top, too. Someone else in here mentioned fu chook which is a nice addition to ginkgo nuts and dried tangerine peel. Good job guys, texture of that jook looks +A!

Congee is one of my favorite breakfasts, the broken rice is interesting, I basically do that without knowing about it, same with the dried shrimp, thirst time hearing about it... but I have used it many times. I will often go with canned beef of some kind... there we have a likely non-traditional ingredient but I make it as broke, strung out, homeless 20 year old.

Tks

Your Dog is sooo adorable ❤

Tip for people like me who have noodle arms and time: if you go directly from soaking the rice to freezing it, the water inside the rice will expand as it freezes and break the rice apart that way.

Nice timing. I googled congee several times today lol

Interesting. I've always wanted that nice congee texture but most recipes I find either say to soak the rice the night before or add oil or put a spoon in the pot. This is the first time I've heard of using broken rice. Can't wait to try it!

My congee making became so much easier after I heard the tip to freeze the rice. Wash it then drain and put in a bag in the freezer (I portion just enough for a pot per bag). Then just tip it frozen into your water/stock to cook. Reduces cooking time and no worries about not having broken rice. Always a good texture.

Congee is like my favourite food by far. I’m love it so much I enjoy cooking it as much as I eat it. I actually really like a 1/20 ratio and use a electric whisk towards the end ahha

In Thailand, I like another style. We made soup with however things you wanted (I called them toppings) then we poured it into a bowl of cooked jasmine rice and called it a day. Normally this dish would sell at night market. Sellers would separate rice, soup and toppings anyway you wanted.

Wow... ok.. I made myself some basic congee a week ago, and ended up with the Cantonese texture and I wasn't even trying.. Usually I prefer a bit thicker but, energy levels and just how I was feeling meant, however it turns out. Had it with a fried egg so- Yummy :)

You can get away with just freezing the soaked rice (not crushing them before freezing), the process of freezing will break down the rice for you (water expand and damage the cells during freezing). A lot of cantonese channel use this method to reduce traditional cooking time from couple hours to 30 minutes, I tried and it works.

I love 皮蛋瘦肉粥 🤤

I like unhinged congee. I sauté some aromatics in oil, I throw my chicken thighs in when the rice is cooking, with some chicken powder, let it all cook up together, thin it out after if i want, shred the chicken. Then top it with anything vaguely Chinese i have in the pantry (which happens to be a lot of things!). Being from the south, it’s like chicken and rice, Chinese inspired. If i do this in the instapot, it takes 30 mins and I can eat for days. I ❤ congee.

I came here expecting to learn some kanji, but I have discovered an entirely different culture. I may need to explore this with my mouth.

At home, our favorite jook (congee) is with century eggs and green onion. And some pork if we feel fancy.

I love buying roast duck cause i enjoy it twice, once as roast duck, second time as roast duck congee. Tbh the mere thought of having roast duck congee the next day makes the roast duck meal even better 😂😂

This type of congee is very similar to Indonesian congee, "bubur ayam". We usually add shredded chicken, scallion, celery, kecap manis (optional) or soy sauce, fried shallots, cakwe (fried spongy dough), chicken broth (seasoned with garlic, shallots, turmeric, and aromatics), and we topped it with kerupuk/shrimp crackers. Sometimes fried peanut or soybeans is added, but some people don't like it...

The fancy rice cooker (Neurofuzzy) has porridge setting built-in. That's been great for steel-cut oats and all sorts of cool grains.

ive been making congee for about a month now and thought i had it down pat. i went to a local chinese spot thats known to have great congee and i was humbled big time. then i scoured the internet to see different means of doing it. crossing fingers that this broken rice and 1:16 ratio might just be it

Watching from Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 and I have to be honest, the first time I have heard about Congee is from the cartoon movie title Raya and the Last Dragon 🤦‍♀️ I am watching this with full concentration because I love the movie 😊

My grandparents would make congee but we always called it chok ..my favorite is as a desert flavor of cinnamon with fruit lychee dragon fruit candied ginger

Excellent info as usual, thanks! Can you please do a video of congee using pre-cooked rice? What ratio would you use?

So, it's like rice grits in certain US southeastern states? Haven't had Cantonese congee since I lived in China in the late 70's. It was so good!

Congee was the conduit for me to try century egg for the first time after a co-worker brought some to work to share. Still kind of not my thing but I did get it. Although still very much a novice and terrible at making it, I like that congee/porridge is versatile enough for to me experiment with flavors. Like a 'pho' congee and a Mexican-flavor congee. I was super broke after being laid off. Rice is (relatively) cheap and I had a bunch of pantry ingredients from when I could afford to cook actual meals. And necessity being the mother on invention and me sick of plain rice, fried rice, etc, and having a variety of soup base powders, dried herbes, etc. I made those Frankenstein congees to expand on the flavors I could afford at the time. None were great but there was enough there to give me a variety of flavors and I'll always appreciate congee for getting me through those difficult times.

Congee always make me think of Bruce Lee's diet where he always had congee with liver for breakfast. I made it once with pork liver and loved it. But then started just having liver and eggs. Should do that again.

Woo, I better go make this, huh?

Juk, the breakfast of champions!

1:53 love these drawings

Hell yeah brother

I'm getting over a stomach bug, and cháo has been my go to for this upset stomach

idk why but ive always cooked my proteins separate from my congee and just added it at the end as a topping. My personal favourite addition to congee is century egg and garlic chives.

Pro tip: Rinse rice. Bag and toss in freezer. The rice grains break upon freezing. I've removed the rice within fifteen minutes to make congee. (I do not store frozen rice in the freezer.) It cooks fast too. You are now the congee magician.

pork liver+kidney still my all-time favorite congee topping...

A convenience I've gotten into when imitating hand minced ground meat in the west (with apartment neighbors) is to get pre-ground meat and whip it in a stand mixer for a few minutes on low speed, kind of like making sausage. The stand mixer is violent enough to break down some of the pieces to mimic the hand mincing action and the whipping takes care of getting the proteins sticky. It will get you 80-85% of the way to the real thing. Hope this helps anyone who cant bash meat with a cleaver!

So . What you’re saying is I can use 20lb rice bags as punching bags AND make my congee 10 times better? Hell yea

In Sydney the local Cantonese seem to call it ‘Jook’. There are a number of Congee/Jook joints around but my favourite is the Superbowl in Dixon Street, and also in Golbourn Street. So understated and delicately balanced. Preserved egg and pork is my favourite

Vietnamese grocery stores sell broken rice which is usually eaten with grilled pork chops or other meats. It's called com tam. It is more expensive than regular jasmine rice

Another tip: Frozen COOKED rice works just as well to achieve a "fluffy" broken texture. Great method if you already have leftover rice.

Another method to get the same effect if "lazy" is while the rice is cooking you just stir for approx 3-4 minutes while in rolling boil not too agressive but just enough that the soft mushy rice grains get "crushed" I think this is the same technique that is used to give the guandong style congee its texture

what do you mean the egg one is unhinged!!! it's so slurpable and good and great when you're sick and need something easy to digest but has both carbs and protein to keep you full!!! i usually immediately break the yolk and mix the egg in the piping hot congee to cook it though. also, i've found that if you soak the rice for at least 30 minutes (i go for overnight) it's easy to break the grains with your bare fingers, so that may be a good alternative if you don't want to bring out the rolling pin.

When you described the broken rice process, I couldn't help but wonder if you've tried instant rice? IDK if it's just in the US, but it's basically parboiled and re-dehydrated rice, which makes it cracked and broken apart in a manner pretty similar to your broken rice. I'll have to try using it with your process this weekend!

On rare occasion I have seen broken rice sold at 99 ranch, in SoCal. It was a smaller bag and it isn't consistently carried. When I did see it, it was really cheap in comparison to even cheap rice. But yeah, xD just smash your own rice guys lol

Carbonara congee sounds amazing

Cook medium grain rice with smoked meaty bacon bones ! It lifts the congee to another level.

This should be good. I hate dried scallops so im thrilled i can use fish sauce

I'm watching this and I seriously want to get a bowl of chicken juk.

oh, that's fascinating and delicious looking! Do you think the ingredients and technique would work in my zojirushi rice cooker, which has a congee setting? My standing is a bit limited...

You can get Broken Rice at Asian supermarkets or your city Chinatown.

❤❤❤

I've always broken my rice up in the pot with a stick blender when I'm too lazy to let it fully cook and break down, but breaking it down before cooking looks like a way better method. The stick blender is just really inconsistent unless you blend for a while, in which case you run the risk of getting it too smooth.

I grew up with meat floss on my rice soup!

Uh, yeah, totally didn't agree with the assessments of the congee at the beginning, who could be that picky >_> I guess the Canto blood flows in my veins stronger than I thought But for real, your mentioning, Steph, about juk with red bean reminded me I had a recipe for black rice juk with red bean I was trying to work out. Guess I know what I'll be inflicting on the family tomorrow night!

An even lazier way: skip the rolling pin and throw soaked rice straight into the freezer. I usually let the rice soak overnight to get real soft, cook straight from frozen and cooking time is about the same

I like my congee in-between. Meaning, not too running and not too thick.

I can buy broken rice at most Asian markets here in Florida.

As someone who has been studying Japanese for the past 7 years, I can confirm that kanji is a very difficult matter indeed.

As soon as basically what was sold here is cream of rice hot cereal used to have that for breakfast all the time as a can. But now they don't make it anymore. You can only find cream of wheat was just isn't the same