Cantonese-Style Rice Congee

Description:
Very comforting to eat, ever wondered how it's being made so smooth and creamy? I use a thermos cooker to cook this, to save gas and also produce a soft creamy rice paste that will be the start of the smooth congee.

It is a good cook-it and forget-it until you want to eat dish to prepare with a heat retaining cooker. Boil the base in the morning before leaving for work, leave it in the thermos, when you're back from work, just return cooker to heat and poach the ingredients.

Ingredients:
For the congee base:
1.5 cup new crop rice, briefly washed and pre-soaked in 7 cups water
30g old ginger, peeled and finely shredded
40g dried scallops of any size, rinsed and smashed
1/4 teaspoon salt

To "open" the congee base:
2 litres chicken stock made from chicken carcass and trimmings and 3 teaspoons salt.

Ingredients to be poached in congee:
2 century eggs, diced
200g chicken breast, sliced and marinated with 1/4 teaspoon of salt
100g cured cuttlefish, cut into inch strips

Condiments during serving (let guests add it on their own):
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves and stalks
1 cup finely chopped spring onions
1/2 cup crispy fried shallots
sesame oil
white pepper powder
soya sauce
2/3 cup sliced chillies
4 fried dough sticks (Eew Char Kway) cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Directions:
1. Boil the ingredients for congee base for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, then leave it in the thermos cooker for at least 3 hours.

2. At the end of the day, you should get very soft, mashy and wet rice in the pot. Before returning it to the heat, give it a thorough stir with a ladle to start mashing up the base. Then add the boiling stock and return the cooker to the heat, stirring to mix stock and congee and also to prevent the thick congee from burning.

3. Bring to boil, add sliced chicken, stir for 2 minutes, then add century eggs and cuttlefish, stir for another 2 minutes, remove from heat and serve in large congee bowls with the condiments ready for service.