Rice Porridge

Delicious rice goop, good by itself or in place of plain rice. I'm not going to get into the weeds about whether or not this is congee, lugaw, arroz caldo or whatever. If you need a recipe for rice porridge you probably don’t know what any of those are anyway.

I make my base pretty rich and treat this like a one pot dish, but you can forgo any toppings and most of the seasoning other than the ginger to make a nice alternative to eating crackers or toast when you’re sick. I make some suggestions on things to add or top with but the world is your oyster and it’s just rice.

Makes like 5-8 portions

Ingredients (required)

• 1 cup of any white rice. Apparently if you wet and freeze this ahead of time it cuts down on the cook time but I’ve not tried this.
• at least 6 cups of fluids. you can mix and match with:

• any meat stock
• water with a the producer advised ratio of chicken cubes/bouillon/powder
• if you're really broke or don’t mind a mild porridge, 2 tbsp of soy sauce per cup of water

The rest is what I tend to toss in. You can pull whatever you want in or out

• 3 tbsp of ground ginger (½ tbsp per cup of fluid). Fresh is fine too and you can get away with using less.
• 4 tbsp vinegar of your choosing
• 3-5 bay leaves
• 2-3 cups of spinach (Really it’s more like fistsfull than cups. I’ve never measured how much spinach I’ve added to something in my life. Frozen or fresh is fine)

And then some options to top it with

• Sesame seeds and dried garlic (usually the Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning because I am lazy)
• Sesame oil or fried chilis in oil
• A soft boiled or over easy egg.

1. Wash and drain your rice before adding it to a pot with your chosen fluid. If you’re using any fresh aromatics like garlic or ginger, heat the pot on med-low with some cooking oil and cook the aromatics until fragrant before adding the rice and fluid.
2. Add bay leaf, ground ginger, vinegar, and any other dry or wet seasonings you want. You could also add a protein here, probably cut to cubes, if you want, but I tend to cook that separately as a topping.
3. Cover, leaving a slight gap so the gluten foam doesn’t attack and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce to a simmer, leaving it covered with a slight gap. If you’re using any frozen veggies, chuck that in before you start lowering the heat.
5. Let that shit go for like 20-30 mins.
6. Check on your porridge and give it a stir. The fluid should be significantly reduced but still there. You’ll now want to watch it closely for the next 10-15 min, maybe reduce the heat even more, and stir occasionally as it will start to get gloopy and can burn. If it gets too gloopy or you forget about it and it starts getting dry, you can always add more fluid.
7. Remove from pot once at desired consistency.  Top with whatever you want and serve.