This Chinese Ground Pork Congee Porridge Recipe is full of flavor and the perfect Asian comfort food for cold weather. This nourishing, one pot meal is a hug in a bowl, and will take you right back to your childhood! (Cantonese congee takes at least an hour to cook to cook till thick and creamy, so I also share 4 hacks to reduce the cooking time from 70-90 minutes to 25 minutes!)
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⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
- Delicious: This Chinese Ground Pork Congee recipe is much better than anything you get at Chinese restaurants! If there's a dish that needs to be cooked with love, it's Cantonese congee. You need to allow the rice grains to really break down to get that creamy consistency, which takes over an hour traditionally. (See "Time Saving Hacks" for the 4 methods I use to reduce the cooking time to 25 minutes.)
- Easy: It's a mostly passive cooking, one-pot meal. To make it more nutritious see "Variations" below or serve with some braised eggs.
What is Congee?
Congee is Cantonese rice porridge, also known as jook 粥. (Click through for more jook recipe.)
It is basically white rice cooked in water till the rice grains have broken down into a thick, creamy and silky dish. This makes it really easy to digest so plain congee is often fed to the young, sick or elderly in Asia.
🥘 Ingredients
For this Asian fall and winter recipe, you'll only need simple ingredients:
- White rice: Long-grain jasmine rice is traditional but takes at least an hour to get thick and silky. Short grain rice, such as sushi rice, soaked rice and frozen rice are sometimes used to reduce the cooking time. (This makes the starch in the rice grains break down more quickly.) You can even use brown rice, as I did in this Chicken Porridge recipe, but the cooking times and water needed will change (for both brown rice and short grain. Brown rice takes longer to cook but is healthier.) See "Time Saving Hacks" below for more information.
- Ground pork: I recommend using pork with a higher fat content, such as pork shoulder, so that it's nice and juicy. Feel free to replace with Chinese pork meatballs, ground chicken, or even leftover turkey from Christmas and Thanskgiving! (If using leftovers, omit the marinating and just simmer the marinade ingredients with the rice.)
- Water or stock: I usually cook the pork congee using just water, but substitute the water for pork and chicken broth when I want it to be extra flavorful. I use a 1:12 rice-to-water ratio, but this is really flexible. Add more if you like a more watery congee, or less if you want something thicker (Probably no less than a 1:6 ratio.) If you misjudged, and the congee was too thick, just add more water! Too thin? Let it boil, uncovered, for longer.
- Shaoxing wine: this is a staple ingredient in Chinese cooking, particularly when marinating seafood or meat to remove strong odours. If you don't have it, you can use 1 of these Chinese rice wine substitutes instead.
- Sesame Oil: for marinating and garnishing
- Fresh Ginger: some grated to marinade the pork and some sliced to garnish the congee later.
- Fresh Garlic: minced. Omit this if you don't have it. It's the ginger that is really crucial.
- Corn Flour: this gives the pork a slightly smoother texture, similar to velveting.
- White Pepper: if you can't get this, omit it. Black pepper is not a subsitute.
- Fish Sauce: substitute with light soy sauce or salt
- White sugar: again, feel free to omit this but it does make the dish taste better.
For authentic Chinese flavor, I recommend garnishign with sliced green onion, sliced ginger (in the shape of matchsticks), salted ducks eggs, Chinese fried dough, or other congee toppings. You can also add some chili oil if you prefer more spice!
📖 Variations & Substitutes
- Add sweet corn: for a more well-balanced meal, add 1.5 Cups of corn kernels. (You can use canned corn.)
- Add preserved century eggs: Lean Pork with Preserved Eggs porridge 皮蛋瘦肉粥 is 1 the most classic version of Cantonese pork congee. However, I've omitted the thousand-year eggs (pei dan 皮蛋, also known as preserved eggs or millenium egg) as you need to head to Asian grocery stores to get it. These are (usually duck) eggs that are preserved in a mixture of clay and salt till they turn translucent and dark, like jelly. The yolk also changes color to dark green or gray and creamy. If adding century eggs, which are salty, you may need to reduce the amount of seasoning added to the congee.
Time-saving Hacks
- Frozen washed rice: wash the rice once or twice till the water runs clear then freeze for at least 6 hours. As the cook-time shortens to 20 minutes, you will only 6-7 cups of water.
- Rice soaked in water in the fridge: leave this in the fridge overnight. I sometimes add a teaspoon of water to the soak. (I saw this hack on Foodnetwork and it's silkier than the frozen rice method.)
- Blending the grains: If you forgot to soak or freeze, a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant once told me the secret is to blend the rice grains with some water before cooking.
- Use Short Grain Rice: this is starchier than long grain rice and results in a thick bowl of congee in a shorter period of time. You can also mix this with jasmine rice, for fragrance.
Alternatively, use a Pressure Cooker, Instant Pot or Rice Cooker- the water: rice ratio will change though.
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
1a. Marinate the ground pork with the ginger, garlic, white pepper, salt, sugar, sesame oil and Shaoxing wine. Mix well so the marinate is well-spread in the meat mixture.
1b. Add the cornflour and mix evenly.
1c. Place the meat back in the fridge.
Note: I usually do this right before I want to cook, but you can do it the night before if you want the flavor to really soak in.
2a. Put the rice in a fine sieve and rinse 2-3 times with cold water till the water runs clear.
2b. Optional: heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in a large pot, then briefly stir-fry the ginger and rice grains. (The rice grains need to be dry or the oil will sputter! If you want to be safe and skip this step, just bring the water to the boil then add the rice to the pot and simmer covered.)
Note: as the congee cooks, it may overflow so you will need a large enough pot.
3a. Add the 12 cups of water (or chicken stock) to the pot of rice.
3b. Over medium-high or high heat, bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Lower to medium-low or medium heat till it reduces to a simmer. Keep stirring to prevent sticking.
4. Reduce to low heat, partially cover with the lid and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 mintues or so. (You should not have to add water but, if your fire is too hot and your congee looks dry, do add more water or stock.)
Note: as you can see above, it is normal for white foam to be produced. during cooking.
5a. After 30 minutes, remove the pork from the fridge and allow it to come back to room temperature. (This makes it juicier.)
5b. 15-20 minutes later, once the pork is at room temperature and the congee is at your desired consistency, bring the pot back to the boil. (If the congee is too thick, add more water, if it's too thin, stir and boil it for longer but make sure the pork is not at room temperature for too long.)
5c. Once boiling, add the pork to the congee and stir till cooked. (Stirring helps thicken the congee even more and breaks any lumps of pork into small pieces.)
6a. Season to taste with salt.
6b. Garnish with these congee toppings and side dishes, or a drizzle of sesame oil.
Note: if you have more time, feel free to cook the congee for even longer to really break the rice grains down. If you do so, remember to add more water if necessary!
🥡 How to Store
Store extras in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days.
When reheating, you will most likely need to add some water. Make sure the congee is brought back to a full boil. Do be careful as rice can go bad easily: traditionally, Chinese families always say not to keep porridge overnight!
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Tip #1: if you have beancurd skin on hand, add it to the pot of rice soup. It'll make your congee smoother!
Tip #2: To make the congee extra creamy, stir in an egg yolk right before you turn off the fire. (Make sure to stir it into the hot congee so it cooks.)
Tip #3: Make sure you use a large enough pot to prevent the boiling porridge from overflowing!
🥗 Other Congee Recipes
Enjoyed this easy Ground Pork Congee Recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this Cantonese dish, please consider supporting it by buying me a bottle of soy sauce! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
Chinese Ground Pork Congee Rice Porridge Recipe
Ingredients
Marinate meat
- 1 lb ground pork If possible, get pork with a higher fat content.
- 1½ thumbs ginger About 3-4 inches long in total. Cut 3 slices and grate the rest. I suggest julienning extra as a garnish.
- 2 cloves garlic Minced
- ½ Tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon salt Substitute: light soy sauce or fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- ⅛-¼ teaspoon ground white pepper Or to taste (you'll need less if your pepper is fresh.) If you don't have this, just omit it. White pepper clumps easily so make sure to scatter it all around the porridge, instead of just pouring it straight in the pot of rice.
For the rest of the porridge
- 1 Cup long grain jasmine rice You can substitute with short grain rice too but the texture will be a bit different. See Notes on how to reduce the cooking time.
- 12 Cups water You can also use pork or chicken stock if you want, but it's not really necessary. Feel free to experiment with a rice: water ratio from 1:6 to 1:12. (You may need to add more water later, if you don't use 12 Cups of water.)
Optional garnish: julienned ginger, these congee toppings and side dishes, and/ or a drizzle of sesame oil.
Instructions
Marinating
- Marinate the ground pork with the ginger, garlic, white pepper, salt, sugar, sesame oil and Shaoxing wine. Mix well so the marinate is well-spread in the meat mixture.
- Add the cornflour and mix evenly.
- Place the meat back in the fridge. Note: I usually do this right before I want to cook, but you can do it the night before if you want the flavor to really soak in.
Cooking the congee
- Put the rice in a fine sieve and rinse 2-3 times with cold water till the water runs clear.
- Heat 1 teaspoon of sesame oil to a pot, then briefly stir-fry the ginger and rice. (They need to be dry or the oil will sputter. If you want to skip this step, just bring the water to the boil, then add the rice and allow it to a simmer, covered, for 70 minutes or so.)
- Add the 12 cups of water (or chicken stock) into the pot and bring to the boil over high heat, stirring simultanously.
- Once it reaches a boil, reduce to low or medium heat till it reaches a simmer. Keep stirring to prevent the rice from sticking to the pot.
- Once simmering, partially cover with the lid and simmer for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 15 mintues or so. (You should not have to add water but, if your fire is too hot and your congee looks dry, do add more water or stock.)
- After 35-40 minutes, remove the pork from the fridge and allow it to come back to room temperature. (This makes it juicier.)
- 15-20 minutes later, once the pork is at room temperature and the congee is at your desired consistency, bring the pot back to the boil. NOTE: If the congee is too thick, add more water, if it's too thin, stir and boil it for longer but make sure the pork is not at room temperature for too long.
- Once boiling, add the pork to the congee and stir till cooked for 5 to 10 more minutes. (Stirring helps thicken the congee even more.)
- Season to taste with salt. Garnish with julienned ginger, these congee toppings and side dishes, and/ or a drizzle of sesame oil.
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
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