This dish was delivered to my door by one of my colleagues after I had my baby, and my husband and I both voted it number one. Shockingly because it’s so simple, but so unbelievably nourishing.
Jook (sometimes called congee) is one of the greatest things to ever come out of China in my humble opinion. It delivers pure, easy-to-digest energy to a weakened system. I freeze some and give it to my son as baby food, I recommend it during the first trimester of pregnancy when nausea and morning sickness are in full-swing, and it’s also good after an illness or childbirth to get mama her energy back. It’s basically chicken soup with a twist. Try it! I do it all in a crock-pot for 8 hours because I’m lazy, but you can also tend to a stock pot on the stove for a few hours.
Happy Jook Recipe (Thanks, Lisa!)
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken
- 15 cups of liquid to 1.5 cups white rice.
- **2 cans (14 oz) of chicken broth, the rest is water.
- 2 TB of vinegar. It helps to break down the bones, thereby extracting more calcium and other nutrients.
- 1-2 slices ginger
- Optional ingredients: veggies, green onions, raw herbs
Directions:
- Add chicken, rice, and liquid (& any herbs & optional ingredients) into a stock pot and bring to a boil.
- Lower heat to a simmer.
- Scoop & discard any foam or fat that arises to the surface.
- Simmer for ≈2 hrs. You want to end up with a thin gruel or porridge. Rice will fall apart.
- Remove the chicken/bones from the stock pot. Shred the good meat from the chicken and add back into the porridge.
- soy sauce or salt and pepper to taste
Side Note: I buy cheesecloth bags to place the chicken inside. That way when the jook is done, I just pull out the bag and don’t have to laboriously scoop out all the bones.
