Congee is pure winter comfort food – warming, nourishing and grounding. I love this recipe with buckwheat as it adds a lovely nutty flavour, although rice also works well. Both are resistant starches that help stimulate beneficial bacteria in your gut.
Serves: 4
Congee
- 1 cup (200g) short-grain rice or buckwheat groats
- splash of apple cider vinegar (unpasteurised)
- 1 organic skinless chicken breast
- 1L chicken bone broth
- 5cm knob of ginger, peeled and shredded
- 4 spring onions (green part only), thinly sliced into rounds
Topping
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 5 purple shallots, thinly sliced into rounds
- sesame oil, for drizzling
- 2 tablespoons tamari, or to taste
- 2 large handfuls coriander leaves
- chilli sauce, to serve (optional)
Method
- Soak the rice or buckwheat groats overnight in cold water with a splash of the vinegar.
- If using rice, drain and rinse the rice. Place the rice and 1L of water in a medium heavy-based saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer over low-medium heat, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the pan, or until most of the water has been absorbed.
- Bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer. Add the chicken breast and gently simmer for 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the chicken in the water for 15 minutes, to finish cooking. Once cool enough to handle, shred the chicken into strips and set aside.
- Add the broth, 1 cup (250ml) at a time to the rice (if using buckwheat, instead of rice, add the drained buckwheat to a saucepan and add the broth 1 cup (250ml) at a time), stirring occasionally until the rice or buckwheat is soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed to make a creamy porridge consistency. Remove from the heat. Add the shredded chicken, ginger and spring onion to the congee and
stir to combine. Cover and set aside. - Place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Simmer for 3 minutes. Transfer into a bowl of iced water for 2 minutes to cool slightly. Meanwhile heat the coconut oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Fry the shallots until crisp and golden. Place on kitchen paper to drain.
- Peel the eggs. To serve, divide the congee between four serving bowls. Drizzle with the sesame oil and tamari. Top each bowl of rice with a soft-boiled egg, coriander leaves and fried shallots. Drizzle with some chilli sauce, if desired.
Recipe from The Beauty Chef Cookbook by Carla Oates.
