Vietnamese Chicken and Long-Grain Rice Congee

19 Reviews

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 2 hr
Ready In: 2 hr 10 min

“Congee is a much overlooked soup and a comfort food of a lot of Asian peoples. This recipe is flavorful, light, and goes down real easy when you are feeling a little out of the weather. It looks harder than it actually is. I usually just throw things together, go away, and wander into the kitchen later to see if it's done.” - by DawnH

Directions

Place chicken in a stock pot. Pour in enough water to cover chicken. Add ginger, lemon grass, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and gently simmer for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.
Strain broth, and return broth to stock pot. Let chicken cool, then remove bones and skin, and tear into bite-size pieces; set aside.
Stir rice into broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If necessary, adjust with water or additional salt. The congee is done, but can be left to cook an additional 45 minutes for better consistency.
Ladle congee into bowls, and top with chicken, cilantro, chives, and pepper. Squeeze lime juice to taste.

Reviews (19)

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ljoli3

Sep. 24, 2007

"Chao ga or Vietnamese congee does not usually contain lemongrass, but I guess the addition may help to make the broth more fragrant. Additionally, you may not want to stir the rice very often or at a..." See morell while cooking as this will often cause scorching at the bottom of the pot. Wait until the rice has cooked for 20 -30 minutes or just right before the you are about to eat to stir up the pot to break the rice grains. The cooking time for the chicken is also quite lengthy. If chicken were left to cook that long the meat would no longer be good. Too mushy and stringy. What my mom and I usually do is to cook the chicken for 30 to 45 mins depending on size, set the chicken aside to cool for a bit then remove the meat. We then return the bones to the pot to continue making the stock. Last but not least, the original preparation of chao contains garishes of cilantro, scallions aka green onions(not chives), and thinly sliced slivers of ginger. If scallions are not available then the next best substitute would be thinly sliced onions. "

chumtram

Nov. 20, 2007

"Hey all just a tip on the rice. The way I learned to cook it was to soak the rice first in warm water, that'll help make the soup a little less thick. I like to break the rice in warm water by hand ..." See morebefore putting it into the pot so that the rice is smaller and a bit of smoother consistency. Another way to prepare the rice is to slightly brown it in a dry skillet that gives it a little bit more flavor, which is really good. I also cook the broth with a whole onion and carrots which is great when you're sick."

VUCN

Jan. 15, 2004

"Excellent recipe. Tastes just like my mom's "chau" (Vietnamese word for congee). I doubled everything in the recipe except for the rice, which I added 2 cups of instead. I didn't add any lime juice..." See more. Great comfort food!"

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