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Congee (Rice Porridge) for Breakfast

by Kasma Loha-unchit
Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit

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Recipe: Rice Congee with Pork (Kao Dtom Moo)

A Steaming Bowl of Rice Congee Revitalizes the Body at Breakfast and During Times of Illness

Students frequently ask me what foods are typically consumed for breakfast in the Orient. Unlike here, where there are specific foods identified with the morning meal, the distinction between what is eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner is not as clear.

Often, breakfast is a mini-version of lunch or dinner, and among farmers and laborers, it is just as substantial as any other meal of the day. When I was growing up, leftovers from the evening before plus one or two simple, newly cooked dishes served with rice made a satisfying morning meal before the family headed off for school and office.

Breakfast may also be any of a wide range of noodle soups, stir-fried noodles, curry over rice, fried rice and other savory one-dish concoctions. On the cultural tours I lead to Thailand every winter, I delight in the endless choices available for breakfast at fast-food rice and noodle shops that do a bustling business in the early light of the morning. One of my favorite breakfasts is spicy basil chicken over rice topped with a crisped fried egg. The same makes just as gratifying a one-dish lunch.

But if I had to name just one food most closely associated with breakfast, the most likely candidate would probably be rice congee. The soupy rice mixture is made either plain and served with a variety of salty, pickled and stir-fried dishes; or chicken, pork, fish or shrimp can be cooked in with the soup and flavored with garlic, ginger, scallions and cilantro.

To make congee, rice is boiled in lots of water or broth until the grains have grown many times their size and are still swimming in excess fluid. The grains may also be cooked down until they completely disintegrate and become the texture of creamy rice cereal. Made either way, congee is very nutritious and highly recommended for people suffering from fatigue, digestive problems and illness. It is easy to digest and contains nutrients in ready form to be absorbed and used, thereby enabling quick revitalization of the body. What better way to "break" the "fast" of the night and begin a new day of productive activity than to partake of a vitalizing bowl of steaming rice soup!

A recipe for pork rice congee follows. The rice can be cooked either by boiling directly in the pork broth; or separately, as the recipe instructs, adding the broth to it just before serving. The latter makes a lighter and clearer soup. Rice cooked directly in the broth will thicken the soup and eventually congeal into a dense mass. But if the texture of creamy rice cereal is what you are after, then boil the rice in the broth.

Frequently, leftover rice is used to make congee, but the resulting soup will not be as tasty, because the starch in previously cooked rice has hardened and will not flavor the soup as well. In the recipe, the separately cooked rice is boiled with sufficient water to break down the starch in the grains, so that when added to the hot broth, the flavor of the rice melts into it, the soft-textured grains blending in with the soup.

Instead of pork, you may also use chicken or seafood such as fish and shrimp. Try a version with turkey – make the soup stock with the carcass from your Thanksgiving bird, adding shredded pieces of leftover turkey to warm through before serving.

If you are accustomed to having toast and coffee for breakfast and cannot bare to face a piece of fish, pork or turkey for breakfast, serve the congee for lunch, dinner or late-night snack on those cold evenings when a steaming bowl of soup is comforting. But because congee digests easily, containing only a very small amount of rice compared to a serving of regularly cooked rice, serve yourself a large bowl, or go for seconds and thirds.

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Rice Congee with Pork (Kao Dtom Moo)

Soup stock:

• 1+ lb. pork bones
• 2 quarts water
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
• 1/4 cup cilantro roots (or substitute with bottom stems), bruised with the side of a cleaver

Pork mixture:

• 2/3 lb. ground pork
• 1/2 tsp. white pepper
• 2 Tbs. minced cilantro roots (or substitute with bottom stems)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs. fish sauce

Other:

• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 3 cups water
• 2 Tbs. light soy sauce
• 2 Tbs. fish sauce, or to taste
• 3/4 cup finely slivered fresh ginger
• 1/3 cup peanut oil
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 green onions, cut into thin rounds
• Liberal sprinkling of ground white pepper
• 1/2 - 1 cup short cilantro sprigs

Place soup stock ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-40 minutes.

Combine the ground pork with the white pepper, minced garlic and cilantro roots (or stems), and fish sauce. Mix well and set aside.

Rinse the rice a few times. Place in a pot, add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer partially covered, skimming off any foam that forms over the water. Cook until rice has softened and the grains have started to fall apart.

In the meantime, prepare the remaining ingredients. In a small skillet, fry 1/2 cup of the slivered ginger in hot oil over medium heat until browned and crisped. Drain with a fine wire-mesh skimmer. Return oil to skillet and fry the chopped garlic in it. When golden brown, remove from heat, leaving the garlic pieces in the oil.

When the stock is ready, drop the flavored pork mixture by the teaspoonful into the soup. Return to a boil, then simmer about 10 minutes. Season to taste with light soy sauce and fish sauce. Just before serving, add the hot broth with pork chunks to the cooked rice to make a soupy rice mixture. Heat together a few minutes. Stir in the fresh slivered ginger and green onions. Dish into individual serving bowls. Top with a dash of ground white pepper, some garlic oil with garlic pieces, a little fried ginger and cilantro sprigs.

Serves 6-8 for breakfast.

A version of this article was originally printed in the San Jose Mercury News

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Article Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit. All rights reserved.
Photograph Copyright © 2003 Nigel Ellis. All rights reserved.
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Last updated 15 September 2003.