Congee with minced pork balls and mushrooms
Congee or "jok" in Cantonese is basically rice porridge (savoury and nothing like your morning oats!), a traditional Chinese dish. This is a very popular dish all year long and it is absolutely delicious and easy to make. You can have congee with century egg (don't worry its not a century-old - its preserved eggs that involve soaking eggs (duck, quail or chicken) into a saline solution for a few weeks or months and is absolutely delicious), mushrooms, veggie version, chicken, pork, beef, seafood - any combination you like, topped with some spring onions, coriander or roasted peanuts for that extra crunchiness :)
A quick tip to cut down cooking time according to this site: Wash your rice, drain it, put it in a freezer bag, store it in the freezer overnight (for 8 hours) and you can make congee in just 20 minutes of cooking time! Apparently, the moisture in the rice freezes and expands, breaking the rice kernel into tiny pieces which helps to reduce cooking time.
Per Serving
Calories: 240 kcal | Protein: 30 g
Ingredients
200g of jasmine rice/long grain rice/white rice or any rice
50g of dried pearl mushrooms (found in Asian supermarkets) or shitake mushrooms
1800ml water (thick) - depends on what consistency you enjoy and what rice you use. You can always adjust this throughout the cooking process.
2 spring onion (finely chopped)
1 small ginger around 2 cm (finely grated)
White or black pepper to season
Minced pork balls
300g of minced pork
1 spring onion (finely chopped)
1/2 egg (beaten)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch (cornflour)
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari soy for a gluten-free version
Serves: 4
Method
Skip if using fresh mushrooms! Soak the dried pearl mushrooms for 20-30 mins (go to step 2 whilst waiting). Remove them from the water and slice them up. Set aside.
2. For the pork balls: Add 1 of the chopped spring onion, garlic, cornflour/corn starch, sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce to the minced pork. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add the beaten egg to the mixture and mix thoroughly. Set aside into a bowl for 15 minutes.
4. Add 1800ml of boiled water from the kettle, rice and sliced ginger into a saucepan on high heat. Stir until it starts simmering.
5. Add the pork balls into the pot one by one by using a spoon and scooping them into little balls. Make sure that they are separate from one another. Turn the heat down to low-medium.
6. Add the sliced up mushrooms into the pot. Place the lid on at an angle leaving room for steam to escape and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes stirring it every 20 minutes.
7. You can change the consistency of the congee by adding more water if it is too thick. Season with salt and pepper once it is at your preferred consistency.
8. Scoop into a bowl and serve with spring onions and parsley!
