I like to prepare breakfast overnight on days when I know I will not have a lot of time in the morning to cook a full meal. Some weekends tend to be busier than others for me, but usually weekdays are when I wish I had a hot breakfast waiting for me in the morning when I woke up. My overnight mushroom and chicken congee was just the breakfast I often crave on cold winter mornings. Any meal I can prepare ahead of time is a win in my book. Congee is a very comforting dish my grandparents used to prepare for me growing up. I love congee in all its forms. My favorite is the thousand year egg and salted pork congee. It’s warm, comforting, savory, and just perfect to warm my body inside and out. When I want a quick breakfast, I make a version of my ginger chicken congee in the slow cooker. Just this past weekend, I made overnight mushroom and chicken congee ten minutes before I went to bed and woke up to a hot, comforting, and filling breakfast. I did reconstitute dried mushrooms earlier in the day prior to chopping them up and adding them to the slow cooker. When I was ready to make the congee in my slow cooker, I added about ½ cup of rice, four cups of water, some aromatics, chicken, mushrooms, turned the slow cooker to low heat and went to bed. The next day when I woke up, I could smell the fragrant congee coming from the kitchen. I scooped some congee into a bowl, added a couple thinly sliced scallions, a bit of sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce (just like the way my grandfather made it for me growing up). In less than five minutes, the congee in my bowl was gone.
Overnight Mushroom and Chicken Congee:
· ½ cup uncooked jasmine rice, rinsed
· 4 cups water or chicken broth
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ inch piece fresh ginger, skin removed
· 1 whole chicken breast
· 3 dried mushrooms, reconstituted in water for at least an hour, cut into small pieces
· 1 stalk scallion, thinly sliced
For serving:
· 1 stalk scallion, thinly sliced
· ½ teaspoon sesame oil
· ½ teaspoon soy sauce
· ½ teaspoon oyster sauce
Directions:
1) Heat a slow cooker on low heat. Add the rice, water or broth, salt, ginger, chicken, mushrooms and sliced scallion. Stir all of the ingredients until mixed. Put the cover on the slow cooker. Let the slow cooker cook the congee overnight for at least six to eight hours.
2) To serve the congee, scoop some congee into a bowl, top with sliced scallion, sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.
Takeaways: Congee is a very simple dish. It can be customized in any way you like. Some of my favorite combinations include salted pork and thousand year egg, and fish with ginger and scallions. You can even make plain congee with just salt. You can serve the congee with whatever condiments you want. Kevin likes to shake on tons of white pepper. I just like to use my grandfather’s serving sauce above.