Congee purists vs maximalists: why the humble rice porridge polarises diners. Plus: should you eat it at Lunar New Year?
- Congee, the rice porridge that is loved across Asia, has an almost unlimited variety of toppings, and is often eaten as a restorative
- The jury is still out about when to eat congee at Lunar New Year, with its associations with poverty, although in Cantonese its name ‘jook’ sounds like ‘plenty’
There is a particularly punny piece of graffiti on the streets of Hong Kong.
It reads, “[Jook]er. Am I a [jook] to you?” – the “jook”, which sounds similar to “joke” and means “congee”, is written using the traditional Chinese character – and the clash of language and meaning is so absurd it made me laugh for a good minute or two.
But let’s be real. Congee is no joke. Like so many other ubiquitous foods out there, however, it is often underappreciated; thought about only, perhaps, when either of two situations arise – you are out for breakfast, or you’re ill.
Long live the humble congee shop, with its grease-stained glass cabinets warming crunchy logs of fried dough (yau zha gwai, or youtiao) to be dipped unceremoniously into the velvety depths of a perfect bowl of jook, with its simple but restorative powers.
Congee connoisseurs often use the word “cottony” in reference to that soft, fluffy sensation of rice that has been cooked into submission in water or broth over a long period. (A recent experiment by Cook’s Illustrated magazine found that simmering for at least 45 minutes allowed the rice to release enough starch to create a luscious and viscous congee.)
