I was excited to try making chicken congee, a super-comfort-food Cantonese dish for episode featuring Heather Diamond’s memoir Rabbit in the Moon. Chicken congee is a savory rice porridge that can be made with vegetables, meat, leftover bones and vegetable scraps (see photo below from Heather’s husband Fred). The base for chicken congee is japonica rice (also known as sushi rice) which is cooked with a lot more water than when one makes rice, then whisked after cooking to break down the rice into fluffy particles and release the starch. If you’ve ever had chicken-and-rice soup or chicken-and-stars soup as a kid, the taste and texture of chicken congee is very similar. My gratitude to Made with Lau for the detailed explanation. If you’re not following them on YouTube, do it now. They are delightful and I am learning so much.
Rabbit in the Moon is a memoir, a story about love, cross-cultural marriage, and the search for identity and connection. It takes place primarily in Hong Kong and Hawai’i. I related to Heather as she tried to navigate what it means to be a good Chinese wife when she’s a white American already in the middle of her life. I loved getting to know her now-husband Fred, her Chinese in-laws, and the breathtakingly different culture that is found in Hong Kong. I learned about festivals, eating out, eating in, and details about life on the small island—Cheung Chau—that I visited in 1990 on my own cross-cultural trip.
Published May 2021 from Camphor Press.
Taste preview: The congee has a velvety texture from whisking the rice, with tender chicken and pops of brightness from the ginger, cilantro, and green onion.
Required FTC declaration: I received one copy of Rabbit in the Moon from the publisher for the taping of this episode. Links in this post are affiliate links and purchases made on Amazon may provide me a tiny fee.
Here is Fred’s version of congee, made with all the leftover bits Heather describes in the episode below:
Chicken congee
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white rice japonica (sushi)
- 8 cups water (filtered or spring) plus 2 tbsp for chicken marinade
- 12 ounces chicken breast partially frozen then sliced as thinly as you can
- 2 tsp cornstarch organic if possible (so no GMOs)
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce (gluten-free version)
- 1.5 tsp chicken bouillon divided use, optional
- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil or other neutral vegetable oil
- 1 knob ginger (fresh) peeled and cut into thinnest matchsticks
- 2 green onions thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1/4 cup cilantro stems only, finely chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Wash and drain rice three times.
- Bring 8 cups of water to a boil on high heat.
- Combine thinly sliced chicken, cornstarch, oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons additional water, 1/2 teaspoon bouillon (if using), and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a bowl, mixing with your hands until the chicken is well-coated. Set aside.
- Once the water in the big pot is at a rolling bowl, stir in the rice. Don't stir the rice once it's back to a boil as it's more likely to stick to the bottom of the pot. Once it's come back to a boil, partially cover and turn down to medium heat. It should have bubbles breaking the surface but not be actively boiling. Cook for 25 minutes without touching the pan.
- Remove cover and begin whisking the rice rapidly and constantly for about 3 minutes, until the rice breaks down and the liquid thickens into a porridge consistency.
- Turn up the heat to boiling again and add the chicken in small amounts while stirring constantly, so the chicken doesn't clump together. It should all be cooked through in 2-3 minutes. Check to make sure the chicken is fully cooked before turning off the heat.
- Taste. You can add (optional) up to 1 teaspoon sea salt and one more teaspoon chicken bouillon (per Made with Lau). Stir in the ginger.
- Ladle into bowls and top with cilantro and green onions. Additional traditional toppings include chopped salted peanuts, Chinese salted fish, Chinese preserved vegetables.
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