How to make johk rice congee

[edwardandtubs]

Seems like it should be extremely simple but the methods on the usual cooking website don't seem to work. Do the street vendors really use broken rice or is there some sort of instant thing you can buy? I'm not talking about that pre-flavoured rubbish you can buy in supermarkets. I want it super smooth without any grains left.

[perriwinkle]

This is how I would do it. I would boil cooked riced in a pot of water until it's really soften. I'll adjust the ratio of water quantity to the cooked rice. Then if I want it very smoothly I'll put it in the blender and add whatever ingredients to my liking at the end of my cooking later on. Hope this helps.

[edwardandtubs]

I've tried the blender method and it doesn't work very well. Today I ground up some uncooked rice in a seed grinder and cooked it for 30+ minutes. Worked out quite well.

Edited June 15, 2013 by edwardandtubs

[AyG]

Yes, street vendors use broken rice. This for two reasons (1) it's cheaper than unbroken rice, and (2) starch leaches out from the broken surface thickening the liquid.

It's possible to use unbroken rice, but it will take about twice as long to cook (1 1/2 to 2 hours versus 45 minutes to an hour). You can pound unbroken rice in a mortar to break it up if you can't find unbroken rice and you're in a hurry.

[Gladiator]

Hi

I use a slow cooker.

1 part rice to 6 parts water. Add my chosen ingedients at the beginning. My own taste is minced chicken, garlic, thai basil, pepper, onions, nam bpla and oyster sauce but to each his own. I have also used minced pok or seafood.

I st the cooker at slow setting and just let it go. The longer that i cook the more like porridge thr rice becomes. Usually about 8 hours

[notmyself]

Cook it with a light pork stock rather than water but don't forget to skim off much of the fat first. Rice steamer on 'heat' rather than cook works well for me but it does take a long long time (4 hours give or take after an initial burst on 'cook' for 20 minutes or so)) and you need to be awake to give it a stir from time to time. For me, using stock rather than water is a must though I see no reason why it could not be a chicken stock which would be very low in fat or duck stock which would be high.

Good idea the member suggesting a little Thai basil. I tried it with a small amount of finely shredded lime leaves which was OK but wouldn't use it again.

Edited June 19, 2013 by notmyself

[barefoot1988]

dont use broken rice, if you use broken rice it will turn out watery instead of the gooey texture. nice and popularstreet vendor dont use broken rice, they use leftover rice which works too.

use chicken broth, and cheaper stickier rice. (stickier rice, not sticky rice!) broth them overnight.

Edited June 21, 2013 by barefoot1988

[Rice60640]

I sometimes soak e rice for about half an hour before boiling. Or, add a pinch of sugar to the rice. It will break down faster. About half an hour to cook.