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My boys gave me a cold this week. I cannot tell you the joy this gives me. Not because I love slobbering and running from the nose, eyes and every other mucus membrane on my head. I’m just relieved that I got it from them instead of the other way around. That way there is no guilt! And since I was fully healthy to take care of the little shavers when they were under the weather, they got the royal treatment. From cartoons on t.v. to hearing their favorite stories fifty times to their favorite foods they got whatever their little pea-pickin’ hearts desired. So again? No guilt! I was free to feel as punky as I actually did feel. So I read my favorite stories to myself, watched ‘What Not to Wear’ on t.v. and made whatever I wanted to eat. Namely, jook (a.k.a. juk or congee.) I had made it for the kids, too, but it’s good for what ails you. What can I say?
Tangent alert: I will clear this up right now. I have no claim to being an expert in the field of jook/juk/congee/lugau/rice porridge. None whatsoever. Crave info on it? See this link. I just know that millions upon millions of people eat some version of it daily and they do it for a multitude of reasons. Among those reasons: It’s simple to prepare. It’s dirt cheap to make. It’s delicious. It’s filling. And it’s really, really hard to screw up. This is a major bonus when you can hardly see through the bleary, cold-addled eyes in your head. Tangent over.
Okay, wait. One more little bit of tangent. I’m probably going to horrify a bunch of traditionalists with this recipe, but I’d like to reiterate that I’m not an expert. I simply know how I like it. Now the tangent is officially, seriously over.
How many of you out there want to slave over a pot of soup when you feel like crud? I don’t see any hands going up. Yeah, I thought so. I don’t either. This is where jook is the king of all soups.
Last tangent today. I promise. Is it a soup? Is it a porridge? It’s both. Depending on the rice/water ratio you use you can push it in either direction. More water? More like soup. More rice? More porridge like…
Jook is traditionally served with all kinds of accompaniments that vary depending on where in Asia you’re eating it. In Korea it might get a side of kimchi. In Japan? Maybe some umeboshi or salmon. In China it could be served with fish or century eggs, among other acoutrements. I, not being bound by tradition, can put whatever the heck appeals to me. And what appealed to me was the way I usually make it; chicken broth and short grain rice simmered until the rice disintigrates topped with green onions, sesame oil and Sriracha and a hard boiled egg. Take that you nasty cold virus!
Make it any old which way you choose. Throw a chicken neck in there and nix the chicken broth if that floats your boat. Got a squirrely tummy? Nix the chicken completely and prepare with just the rice and water and serve it with a drizzle of honey or sprinkling of brown sugar. Feelin crazy? Toss in some minced chile peppers while the rice and water simmer. Make it yours. As long as you keep close to the basic 1 part-rice-to-10-parts-water ratio you can do what you want to make it taste the way you want. Make it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The best part of this recipe is that it prepares itself in the slow-cooker while you loll about in your flannel jammie pants with a box of tissues and a good book. Isn’t cooking fun?
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Basic Jook
- 1 cup short grain rice (I use sushi rice)
- 10 cups chicken broth (or you can use 10 cups water and 4 bouillon cubes *gasp*. It’s not all awful, you know…)
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil (like canola, vegetable, peanut, etc…)
optional for serving:
- 1 cup milk, either dairy or soy
- thinly sliced green onions
- leftover shredded meat
- hard-boiled eggs
- julienned carrots
- soy sauce
- hot sauce
- toasted sesame oil
- congee eggs
In the bowl of a large slow-cooker, stir together 1 teaspoon of neutral oil and the short-grain rice until the rice grains are coated. Add the chicken broth (or your desired substitute) and stir to combine. Place the lid on the slow-cooker, turn heat to ‘LOW’ and allow to cook for 8 hours. Just prior to serving, bump the heat up to ‘HIGH’. If you’re using milk, stir it in now. Recover the slow-cooker and allow to cook for 30 minutes. Turn off the cooker, uncover and stir prior to serving.
To eat the Foodie With Family way, drizzle with a little toasted sesame oil and soy sauce, top with sliced green onions, add a few drops of Sriracha and chop a hard-boiled egg into the jook. This may not cure the cold, but it sure makes you feel better!
Back to normal programming tomorrow. If you want to play along here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 lbs dried cannelini beans (a.k.a. white kidney beans)
- 1 onion (or the frozen tops of two onions… were you paying attention here last week???)
- olive oil
- Herbes de Provence
- salt and pepper. But you had that anyway, right? Please say yes.
- garlic, darling… You must have the garlic.
- pita chips, crackers, breadsticks or bread.
Are you interested?
…Just in case you, like me, live in the middle of nowhere and can’t buy sushi rice at your local mini-grocery, here’s a link to my life-line: Amazon.com. What do these people NOT sell I ask you.
Reader's Thoughts...
Saitaina says
Thank you. I am sick with Noro at the moment and was looking for a good, bland food I could try eating that didn’t require me to stare at a stove. This is perfect and your writing was engaging and fun, giving me a rare smile during this illness.
Rebecca says
Oh Saitaina! I hope you feel better soon, and thank you for your kind words. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
KhunJit says
I’m Thai. When I’m not lazy, it’s with pork meet balls and poached eggs … and a dash of soy sauce for a kiss of MSG 😂
I’ve been making joke (that’s how we call it) in crockpot since I read your post. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for sharing this!
Andrew Petersen says
Love jook. It is the best for cold winter mornings. I make it with rice, or barley or steel cut oats. frankly any whole grain will work well. A great and versatile fortification to start the day.
phil says
Can’t wait for your next post!
Joyce says
Hi, this looks great. If I use shortgrain brown rice do I have to cook it longer than the 10 hours? Thanks Joyce
Rebecca says
I haven’t personally made it with the short grain brown rice. I imagine it should be done, but more toothsome!
rose says
in case you haven’t already done it with brown rice by now, i always use brown–it is just a bit heartier and cooks in the same amount of time. not mentioned is the washing of the rice, which is more important with brown due to the occasional partial hull, but otherwise identical process.
Rebecca says
Thanks for the heads up on that, Rose!
Amber says
Your juk looks a tad watery. it should be mostly just ‘watery’ rice, no actual liquid should really be visible!
rebecca says
ok. I’m commenting on a 4 year old post. But, we also love congee. And I wanted to recommend turkey leg congee – briefly saute’ some chopped carrots and celery, add a cup of rice, throw in some leftover turkey bones, add 8 to 10 cups of water, simmer for 20ish minutes, and enjoy. When my girl was a little thing I also made a lot of sweet potato congee. I’ve never made it in the slow cooker because I don’t want to wait that long…
disa says
I grew up eating this, and now this is what I make my kids when they aren’t feeling good or just for breakfast with scrambled eggs. We call it ba bau. It’s popular in so many parts of Asia.
Rebecca says
Maggie- I know! I saw these on all the Japanimation cartoons that keep me totally obsessed. Jook and congee, congee and jook, with the occasional ramen. Nice to find a fellow animation-nerd. And the jook is so good that you can see why they include it in so many cartoons.
Maggie says
Ooo, this dish always fascinates me when I see it in Japanese cartoons but I hadn’t searched out a recipe yet. It does sound very comforting.