BREAKING NEWS!!! You can make delicious congee with slow-cooked flavor––from scratch––in 20 minutes. I’m not talking about using an Instant Pot or pressure cooker either. The extremely exciting technique I’m revealing in this post will cut the usual congee cooking time by at least two thirds, if not more.
Anyone who has made congee before knows that this statement is verging on lies and deception, but hear me out.
What Is Congee?
But first, what is congee? Congee is a classic Chinese porridge made from rice, usually served for breakfast or at dim sum. It can have sweet or savory toppings––the classic has pork, scallions, ginger, and thousand year old egg. Congee is usually made by boiling rice in a lot of water for a very long time.
(Until now!)
The Secret to 20-Minute Congee
So listen to this, my cousin in Shanghai knows that we have a food blog. Once in a while, she’ll send me information or dishes that might interest me. Recently she sent me a 15-minute congee recipe, and it immediately caught my attention, because I––like you right now––thought there was NO way anyone could make a decent congee in 15 minutes––let alone a really good one!
So it was definitely worthy of the 15-minute investment to find out. My conclusion was that the congee did not cook to the right consistency in 15 minutes, but 20 minutes was the perfect amount of time to reach the texture you see in our pictures.
The secret? FREEZING the rice ahead of time: wash the rice, drain, and put the washed rice in a zip-loc bag (or freezer-safe container). Then leave it in the freezer for at least 8 hours.
The science behind it is that the moisture in the rice freezes, expands, and breaks the rice kernel into tiny pieces to dramatically reduce necessary cooking time. I also tried this method with grains like barley, brown rice, red rice, and black rice, and it works beautifully. The cooking time for grains other than white rice is just slightly longer.
Now I always keep a bag of washed rice in my freezer. I don’t have to plan ahead and invest an hour or more to make congee anymore. I can have it any time I want: breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
It’s a whole new world!
A Classic Recipe
While this newfound cooking technique is a game changer, the actual recipe––congee with pork and thousand year old egg––has a long history as a favorite Cantonese comfort food.
The elephant in the room is, of course, the thousand year-old egg. I don’t know how it earned this name, inspiring equal parts terror and horror. A scene from Fear Factor comes to mind: a poor girl asked to eat a thousand year-old egg, gagging with tears in her eyes. I would be like…hand me some soy sauce and bring it over, along with my $50,000 check!
For you daredevils, thrill seekers, and Andrew Zimmern types, give this recipe a try with the thousand year old egg. If less adventurous, you can always leave the egg out.
And for people who grew up eating this congee, nostalgic for authentic Cantonese flavors, this one is a big welcome home with minimal effort, from me to you!
Also check out our other congee recipes, including our Seafood Congee, Pork Bone Congee, and Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Congee!
20-Minute Congee with Pork & Thousand Year Old Egg: Recipe Instructions
Wash the rice, drain, and transfer to a zip-loc bag or freezer-safe container. Leave it in the freezer for at least 8 hours.
Marinate the pork with the cornstarch, oyster sauce, and vegetable oil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
In a medium pot, bring 7 cups of water to a boil. Add the frozen rice (no need to defrost) and bring it to a boil again, stirring the rice to prevent sticking.
Reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Periodically check and stir the congee. It’s important to stir from the bottom to prevent sticking, as the rice texture thickens quickly.
While that’s cooking, dice the thousand year-old egg and set it aside. Very thinly julienne the ginger. Don’t prepare this ahead of time, as we want the flavor of freshly cut ginger.
After 15 minutes, it’s time to add the julienned ginger, pork, and thousand year-old egg.
Stir and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Finally, stir in the white pepper and salt to taste. Serve piping hot with chopped scallions and cilantro.
It’s that easy, folks!
20-Minute Congee with Pork and Thousand Year-Old Egg (皮蛋瘦肉粥)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup white rice
- 4 ounces pork shoulder (115g, julienned)
- ½ teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 7 cups water (or chicken broth; 1.65 liters)
- 2 thousand year-old eggs
- 3 slices ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- Salt (to taste)
- Chopped scallion and cilantro (to garnish)
Instructions
- Wash the rice, drain, and transfer to a zip-loc bag or freezer-safe container. Leave it in the freezer for at least 8 hours.
- Marinate the pork with the cornstarch, oyster sauce, and vegetable oil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium pot, bring 7 cups of water to a boil. Add the frozen rice (no need to defrost) and bring it to a boil again, stirring the rice to prevent sticking. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Periodically check and stir the congee. It’s important to stir from the bottom to prevent sticking, as the rice texture thickens quickly.
- While that’s cooking, dice the thousand year-old egg and set it aside. Very thinly julienne the ginger. Don’t prepare this ahead of time, as we want the flavor of freshly cut ginger.
- After 15 minutes, it’s time to add the julienned ginger, pork, and thousand year-old egg. Stir and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Finally, stir in the white pepper and salt to taste. Serve piping hot with chopped scallions and cilantro.
- It's that easy, folks!
nutrition facts
Note: This recipe was originally published on October 17, 2016. We have since updated it with more information, clearer instructions, and nutrition information. Enjoy!
This recipe is amazing – after cooking the rice for 15 minutes and adding the century eggs, pork and ginger for 5 minutes, my rice was not thicken enough so what I did was simmer it longer for an additional 10-15 minutes. The results thicken very nicely! I also experimented with adding concentrated chicken stock / bouillon since I used water instead of chicken stock, and the final result tasted great. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
Hi Adel, trying stirring the congee during the last 5 minutes. The stirring thickens the congee much faster.
Maybe this method can also be used for the Spanish named Filipino dish Arroz Caldo, rice porridge with chicken and ginger. Will definitely try it!
Why not, this technique shortens the cooking time, but you are still the chef, create your flavors :-)
I just tried it and the result was WONDERFUL!!! What came out was gloriously thick; will just have to reduce the amount of rice (I used ordinary rice) and increase the water so it would be more soupy rather than a thick risotto. Anyways, I love it!
Yayyy! Thank you for your comment.
Can I use chicken instead of pork? And if so, do I need to boil it first?
Hi Sam, you can use chicken instead of pork, and no change needed.
Just curious, what is the reason for freezing the washed rice?
Hi Cora, I talked about it in the intro of the post, have a look :-)
I would like to try this. I have seen thousand yr old eggs from Asian groceries but I do not know how to use them. Do I still have to boil them before adding to the congee?
Hi Marie, these eggs are edible as is…no cooking required. I like to eat them dipped in light soy sauce.
For people who are new to these eggs, the taste might be overwhelming. I find it easier t introduce it in congee or served diced on soft tofu or even just sliced in quarters with pickled ginger. My husband hates congee and is picky with certain foods so I steamed it in an egg dish called “san sik dan” (I’m Cantonese so the pronunciation might be different in Mandarin).
I would like to try this recipe. I have seen the thousand year old eggs from Asian groceries. But I do not know how to use them. Do I still have to boil them just like regular eggs before adding it to the congee?
Made this last night. One thing to note is I almost had a disaster because I scaled back the serving size to 3 before printing the recipe, and it changed the quantities in the ingredient list but it still said to add the original 7 cups of water in the instructions. Guess which ones I followed? However, nearing the 15 minute mark I started to notice it wasn’t thickening and then I noticed the discrepancy in the liquid amount between the ingredient list and cooking instructions. I was able to spoon out the difference in liquid and gave it an extra bit of cooking time and it came together nicely.
This was delicious and I’d definitely make it again. I already have another bag of rice in the freezer. This was our first time trying the century egg and it was interesting, it’s definitely an acquired taste but not horrible like the challenges show. I’m glad we tried it, but we’ll probably go with a regular hard or soft boiled egg or soy egg next time.
Hahaha…century egg is not for everyone and no need to force it on yourself :-) You are right, even a nice fried egg with soy sauce will go great with this congee.
You might want to consider changing step 3 of the recipe instructions to remove the “7 cups” water quantity, since it does not change with everything else if someone scales down the recipe. I wonder if this is why some others in the comments haven’t had success with it thickening, they may have done the same thing I did and not noticed the discrepancy between the two amounts and just measured from the instructions. (Okay, well I noticed it near the very end, but I did manage to fix it.) The method works great, but only if you are using the right amount of liquid and the discrepancy introduces potential for error :)
Century Eggs are simply divine! :)
Agree. If I can, I’d like to eat it everyday :-) I prefer to dip it in some light soy sauce to go with my pao fan.
hi this might be a no brainer but i was just wondering if i should freeze the cooked rice or uncooked rice
Uncooked rice :-)