Chinese congee is a savoury thick rice porridge which has been well-liked by Asians for centuries. In the past, congee was mainly served in the morning as breakfast or late at night as supper, now it can be eaten any time of the day! Not forgetting that congee is always a comfort food which mum will cook for us when we are unwell and every spoonful contains a mother’s love. Hmmm…. no wonder we recover from our illness so quickly after consuming congee!! 🙂

Unlike the Teochew plain porridge which needs to be accompanied by other dishes, this Cantonese-style congee is more flavourful and briny by adding other ingredients according to your preference and adding seasoning into it. Come, come, come and savour this yummy-licious congee.

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Serves 4 persons

Ingredients

For the congee:

1 ½ cups new crop jasmine rice / long grain rice

250gm of lean shoulder butt pork meat

1 or 2 Intestines

100gm pig’s liver

Marinade for the pork:

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

½ teaspoon sesame oil

Pinch of salt

A dash of white pepper powder

Seasoning for the intestines:

3 tablespoons of salt

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

A dash of white pepper powder

Marinade for the liver:

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

¼ teaspoon sesame oil

A dash white pepper powder

7 to 9 cups chicken stock/water

1 egg per person (optional)

6 thin slices ginger

Some light soya sauce to taste

Some sesame oil to taste

Some sea salt to taste

Garnishing:

Some scallions/spring onions (trimmed and cut in into small pieces)

Fried shallots (optional)

Method:

Preparing and cooking of the intestines:

1. If the intestines you bought needs to the cleaned, please watch this link to find out how to clean them.
   
2. The intestines which I have bought from the wet market were cleaned but I still added 1 ½ tablespoons of salt and rubbed it all over the intestines.
3. Leave them for 10 minutes and rinse off.
4. Turn the intestines inside out and repeat Steps 2 and 3.
5. Rinse at least 2 to 3 times with water.
6. Transfer them into a pot of water, add 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce, a teaspoon of sesame oil and a dash of pepper and bring to boil.
7. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes or till soft.
   
8. Remove from heat and cut into 3 cm pieces and set aside.

Preparation of the pork:

9. Slice the pork thinly.
   
10. Marinate pork slices with seasoning for 30 minutes or longer.

Preparation of the liver:

11. Slice the liver thinly.
    
12. Marinate the liver with the seasoning for 30 minutes or longer.
13. When the congee is about ready, blanch pig’s liver slices with boiling water for 30 seconds, or till it’s half done. Drain and reserve for later.

Preparing and cooking of the congee:

14. Rinse the rice at least twice.
15. Transfer rice into a pot and add 7 cups of chicken stock and sliced ginger and bring to boil over high heat.
16. Reduce to low heat and let it simmer.
17. Cover the pot partially but be on the lookout as the liquid might overflow.
18. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
19. Simmer for about 30 minutes or longer to get congee (very fine consistency). Add more chicken stock if needed.
20. Add pork meat slices, and continue to stir and simmer for another 10 minutes.
21. Add some stock occasionally if congee is getting too thick.
22. Add in the cut intestines pieces and the blanched pig’s liver for about 30 seconds.
23. Taste to ensure that the seasoning is to your liking and if needed, you may add a few drops of light soy sauce and sesame oil into the pot and stir to mix well.
24. Crack a raw egg into each serving bowl (optional) and immediately ladle the congee into the bowls. Garnish and serve with a dash of white pepper.

Note:

1. New crop jasmine rice is more suitable for cooking congee/porridge as they break down quicker and are softer.
2. The right consistency of successful congee should be fairly smooth, light gluey with enough moisture. To achieve smooth consistency, rice has to be softened till completely emerged with the liquid by stirring it continuously (and mashing the softened rice grain to break it down with ladle occasionally) when simmering. Add water to lighten the texture, if you find some resistance to your stirring.
3. You may replace pork and the innards with other meat such as chicken or fish.