Late-night chicken congee

Name: Late-night chicken congee
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 3 servings
Ingredients: ¾ cup sushi rice; 2 ½ qt chicken stock; salt; soy sauce, for serving; scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced, for serving; fresh ginger, finely chopped, for serving; sesame oil, for serving

Rice, stock and two idle hours. The pot does all the work.

At a Glance

Time

2 hr 15 min

Serves

Story

This is ji zhou, chicken congee, from Fuchsia Dunlop's book on the food of the Jiangnan region, and she calls congee the ultimate Chinese comfort food. She is right. The magic is nothing but time. The grains simmer until they burst open and surrender their starch, which is what turns a pot of stock into silk.

Ingredients

¾ cup sushi rice
2 ½ qt chicken stock
salt
soy saucefor serving
scallionsgreen parts only, thinly sliced, for serving
fresh gingerfinely chopped, for serving
sesame oilfor serving

Method

The recipe is barely a recipe, which is precisely its charm. You stir a pot occasionally for two hours and are rewarded like a saint.

Rinse the rice and drain it.
Put the rice and stock in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Give it a proper stir, scraping the bottom so nothing sticks. Lower the heat, half-cover and let it simmer gently for 1½ to 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the grains have burst open and the whole pot has gone thick and creamy. Toward the end, when it reads like oatmeal, season lightly with salt.
Serve in deep bowls with soy sauce, scallion greens, ginger and a few drops of sesame oil scattered over. Everyone doctors their own bowl. That is the law.

It thickens as it cools, so loosen leftovers with a splash more stock. In Shanghai this is late-night food, which tells you everything about who it is really for.

On the pass