← Nouns Cooking · Chinese

Ingredients

• 150 g jasmine or short-grain rice
• 1 tsp oil, for the rice
• ½ tsp salt, for the rice
• 2 l water (or half chicken stock)
• 4 slices ginger, for the congee
• 300 g skinless, boneless white fish (sea bass, cod or snapper), thinly sliced
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
• ¼ tsp White pepper
• 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil
• 15 g ginger, cut into fine shreds, to serve
• 3 Spring onion, finely sliced
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro) (optional)
• 1 youtiao, sliced, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Rinse the rice, drain and mix with the oil and salt. Leave for 30 min; this helps the grains break down into a smooth congee.
2. Bring the water to the boil with the ginger slices. Add the rice, stir and bring back to the boil, then simmer partly covered on low heat for 50–60 min, stirring every 10 min, until thick, creamy and the grains have burst.
3. Meanwhile mix the fish with the soy sauce, cornflour, wine, pepper and sesame oil.
4. Season the congee with salt. Arrange the raw fish slices in the bottom of each bowl and ladle the boiling congee straight over them; the fish cooks in about 1 minute. Or slip the fish into the pot and simmer for 1–2 min until just opaque.
5. Top with the ginger shreds, spring onion and coriander, and serve with youtiao for dunking.

Tips

• The fish must be sliced thinly and the congee at a rolling boil when poured, so the fish cooks through; check it is opaque before eating.
• Cool leftover congee quickly and refrigerate; it thickens a lot, so loosen with water when reheating.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Omnivore's Cookbook Made With Lau What To Cook Today