Around the world there are many variations on plain old porridge.  I immediately thought of the Chinese version, rice congee.  It takes an hour and a quarter to cook so I suspect ‘no time for congee’ is a common refrain in most Chinese households as they rush off to start their day.  Perhaps they make it the night before (or use a rice cooker).  Here’s how I made mine.

Rice Congee

Ingredients

1 cup rice (washed and drained, a Chinese friend advises short grain rice for a more ‘porridgey’ result but I used long grain and it worked fine)

9 cups water (plus extra water for boiling the chicken legs at the start)

3 free range chicken legs

1 free range chicken breast

1 slice fresh ginger

1 garlic clove (halved)

1 spring onion (halved)

To garnish:

1 long  red chili

1 spring onion (finely sliced)

shredded fresh ginger

coriander

Method

Place  chicken legs in a pot  and add enough cold water to just cover, bring to the boil and boil furiously for 3 minutes.  Remove chicken legs, discard water and rinse pot.  Replace chicken legs along with rice, water and aromatics.  Bring to the boil and then reduce to a very low simmer, stirring occasionally.  Cook for 40 mins.  Remove chicken legs and add chicken breast.  Simmer for a further 25 minutes.  Remove chicken breast and simmer for a further fifteen minutes.

To serve:

Ladle congee into deep bowls, swirl through soy sauce to taste.  Top with slices of chicken breast and leg meat along with some shredded ginger, spring onion, chili and coriander.