Vegan Congee Recipe Jook Chinese Rice Porridge

The main flavoring ingredients for my vegan congee are shiitake mushrooms, lemongrass, ginger, and vegetable broth. To serve, I add sauces and toppings to give the congee even more flavor and texture. Feel free to add your favorite ingredients to the congee.

HOW TO MAKE VEGAN CONGEE

RICE AND LIQUID

Start off by measuring 1 cup of jasmine rice and rinsing it once to get rid of some starch from the rice. Then, drain the rice and transfer it to the large pot. Typically, congee is made with jasmine rice because its natural aroma adds flavor to the rice porridge. However, if you don’t have jasmine rice on hand, you can use other types of long-grain white rice. If you decide to use brown rice, you’ll need to extend the cooking time as it takes much longer to break down brown rice. I like to cook my congee with a 1 to 9, rice to liquid ratio. In other words, I measure 1 cup of rice and cook it with 9 cups of liquid. In this vegan congee recipe, the liquid is a mixture of water and vegetable broth. For the vegetable broth, I use Better Than Bouillon’s vegetable base. It is a convenient paste that you dilute with water to make broth, and it’s usually easy to find in grocery stores. You can also use boxed vegetable broth, if you like.

FLAVORING INGREDIENTS

In addition to the vegetable broth, I am using dried shiitake mushrooms, lemongrass, and ginger for flavoring. Dried shiitake mushrooms provide great umami flavor, but you need to reconstitute or rehydrate the mushrooms before using it. I usually let it soak in hot water for at least 30 to 45 minutes before using it for cooking. With respect to lemongrass, I typically buy fresh stalks from the farmers market in Sacramento. When I get home, I’ll slice them into 3 to 4 inch chunks and freeze them to use year-round. If fresh lemongrass is difficult for you to find, you can use lemongrass paste, like the one by Gourmet Garden. Use 3 to 4 teaspoons of the paste for this recipe. One important note: Gourmet Garden’s lemongrass paste contains whey, so it is not vegan.

COOK THE CONGEE ON STOVETOP

Simply add all the ingredients for the congee in a pot and bring the water to boil. Then, reduce the heat to low, and let the congee simmer, covered for an hour. Occasionally, check the congee to make sure it doesn’t boil over. After an hour, turn off the heat and stir the congee. Then, let it sit at room temperature for another 15 minutes, with the lid slightly covering the pot. This will allow the congee to cool and thicken. The congee is now ready to serve.

INSTANT POT CONGEE

Cooking congee in the Instant Pot doesn’t necessarily save much time, but it is more convenient as you don’t need to check it while it cooks. Cook the congee on high pressure in Manual mode for 30 minutes. Then, let the pressure release naturally, which will take about 15 to 20 minutes. When you first open the lid of the Instant Pot, you’ll notice that the porridge is very watery. Similar to the stovetop method, give everything a stir and let the congee sit for 15 minutes so that the porridge thickens as it cools. Afterwards, you can serve the congee.

TOPPINGS

I add toppings to my congee all the time. Typically, I add a dash of soy sauce, white pepper, chili oil, and scallions. I also love to add fried shallots (or fried onions) and furikake. You can also serve the congee with youtiao, Chinese fried dough sticks.