Congee

• 1. Introduction

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  Congee, pronounced KON-jee, is the rice porridge that a 2011 comedy film dismissed as a food for "small babies and very old people". In The Hangover Part II, which is set in Thailand, the line is used to describe the character Stu Price, played by Ed Helms. The porridge, known there as jok, is said to have "no taste" and to be nourishment "everybody can digest".

  The joke works because congee looks like the plainest dish imaginable. Cooks simply boil rice in a large amount of water until the grains soften. With more water, the result thins from something like Western oatmeal into a gruel. Yet this humble bowl turns up at breakfast tables, sickbeds and festivals across Asia and beyond.

  Why does a dish this simple appear in so many kitchens? Where did its English name come from? And what do people add to it when nobody is making a joke?

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• 2. Names and Origins

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  A Portuguese document from 1563 holds the earliest known mention of both the dish and its name, which was written as canje. The Portuguese had taken the word from Tamil, where it is kanji, and English later borrowed it from them. The Indian writer Madhur Jaffrey says kanji is, or comes from, a Tamil word for boiling. It covers the porridge itself and also any water in which rice has been cooked.

  China has a far older name for the dish. The word zhou has a first recorded reference around 1000 BC, during the Zhou dynasty. Elsewhere in Asia, similar dishes go by many different names.

  Rice farming sets a ceiling on how old congee could be. Its history in Asia stretches back to about 10,000 BC in the lower Yangtze, a region then inhabited by the Baiyue. Congee needs rice, so it is unlikely to be older than that. Its most vivid written traces come from diaries and chronicles of wartime and famine.

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• 3. Food for Hard Times

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  In Vietnam, plain rice porridge is called cháo hoa, and in its simplest form it is food for famine and hardship. Cooks use it to stretch a rice ration. Among Buddhist monks, nuns and lay people, it is also a common simple breakfast, eaten with pickled vegetables or fermented bean curd called chao.

  Japan treats porridge as a food suited to the sick and the elderly because it is soft and easy to digest. For the same reason, it is commonly the first solid food given to Japanese infants. It helps them move from liquids to ordinary cooked rice, which is a major part of the Japanese diet.

  Vietnamese cooks make a similar case. Cháo is eaten when someone is ill because it is believed to be easy to digest while still fortifying. Some cooks use roasted white rice, which gives the broth a more nuanced body and a subtle, nutty flavor.

  In the Konkan region of Maharashtra in India, the porridge called pez is a home remedy for fever. In Sri Lanka, a physician trained in indigenous medical traditions, known as a vaidya or veda mahttaya, may prescribe a herbal congee called behet kenda. Congee made from roasted rice, called bendi hal kenda, is used to treat diarrheal diseases.

  A Buddhist text, the Yāgu Sutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 5.207), records the Buddha recommending rice porridge, called yāgu. He says: "There are these five benefits in rice porridge. What five? It stills hunger, dispels thirst, settles wind, cleans out the bladder, and promotes the digestion of the remnants of undigested food. These are the five benefits of rice porridge."

  Buddhist practice reaches the bowl in Vietnam too. In some parts of the country, local customs call for making cháo as offerings to the "wandering souls" during the Vu Lan summer feast.

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• 4. East Asian Bowls

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  In China, the north-south divide in grain production decides what counts as porridge. Across the south, Chinese languages usually use the word for rice porridge. In the north it may mean cornmeal, proso millet, foxtail millet or sorghum porridge.

  In northwest Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, people make a fermented porridge from rice and millet. They soak the grains to let them ferment, then drain off the water. The porridge is eaten with pickled turnips, carrots, radish or celery, and the drained water is served as a drink. It can also be stir-fried or steamed into solid pieces. Proso millet is the traditional grain, mixed with rice when available. Many folk idioms of sourness derive from this dish.

  In Shanghai and Suzhou, an iconic glutinous rice porridge comes topped with red bean paste, sweet olive syrup and brown sugar. Street hawking of this porridge features in a well-known Wu Chinese nursery rhyme.

  Century egg congee began in Guangdong and has been popular nationwide since the 2000s. KFC first tested it on a menu in Shanghai in 2002, then rolled it out to all its restaurants in mainland China and Taiwan. It ranked in the top ten breakfast orders in almost every major Chinese city, as far north as Harbin.

  Other regional additions include salted duck eggs, rousong, zhacai, pickled tofu, mung beans and organ meats, especially pig liver. Some Chinese cultures serve youtiao on the side. A congee with many ingredients is seen as expensive and festive, and Laba congee is the example. In Taiwan, sweet potato, taro root or century egg often goes in for taste, and milkfish congee is a famous dish.

  Japanese kayu typically uses five or seven parts water to one part rice and cooks for about 30 minutes. Some recipes go as high as twenty parts water. It may be made with only rice and water, often seasoned with salt, and beaten eggs can thicken it. Welsh onion, salmon, roe, ginger and umeboshi, which are pickled plums, are common toppings. Miso or chicken stock can flavour the broth, and most Japanese electric rice cookers have a setting just for congee.

  On the 7th of January, Japanese tradition calls for nanakusa-gayu, which means seven herb porridge. Some believe the herbs protect against evils and invite good luck and longevity in the new year. As a simple, light dish, it gives a break from the many heavy dishes of the Japanese New Year. Kayu also plays a part in Shinto divination rituals.

  Korean juk is made by boiling rice or other grains or legumes, such as beans, sesame, nuts and pumpkin. It is often eaten warm as a morning meal but now appears at any time of day. Depending on ingredients and consistency, it can count as food for recuperation, a delicacy or famine food. Many chain stores in South Korea sell it, and it is a common takeout dish.

  The most basic form, made from plain rice, is called ssaljuk or huinjuk, meaning "rice porridge" and "white porridge". It is usually served with more flavorful sides such as jeotgal, which is salted seafood, and various kimchi. Historical documents mention more than forty varieties. Notable ones include jatjuk from finely ground pine nuts, jeonbok-juk with abalones, yulmu-juk from yulmu, and patjuk from red beans.

  Farther south, in Thailand, the local porridge carries a name borrowed from Min Nan Chinese.

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• 5. Breakfast on the Mainland

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  Thai jok is a breakfast dish, often served with a raw or partially cooked egg added. Minced pork or beef and chopped spring onions go in too. It may be topped with a small donut-like pathongko, fried garlic, slivered ginger and spicy pickles such as pickled radish. Many shops sell it all day, and it is especially popular during Thailand's cool season.

  Plain congee in Thailand is called khao tom kui, and specialty restaurants serve it with a multitude of side dishes. They include yam kun chiang, a salad of sliced dried Chinese sausages, and mu phalo, which is pork stewed in soy sauce and five-spice powder.

  In Bangkok, Bang Rak on Charoen Krung is home to Jok Prince, which received the Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guidebook. Other jok eateries stand in Talat Noi in Chinatown, beside Wat Traimit near Hua Lamphong. In the Chok Chai neighbourhood in Lat Phrao, the dish is available 24 hours a day.

  In Vietnam, cháo gà is cooked with chicken, garlic and ginger in chicken broth. When the chicken is done, the meat is sliced and layered on shredded raw cabbage and sliced scallions. A vinegar-based sauce goes over it, and it is eaten as a side dish. Cháo vịt, made with duck, is cooked in the same manner.

  Cháo lòng heo uses offal from pork or duck with slices of congealed pork blood. Cháo bầu dục contains pig kidney and is a specialty of the Hóc Môn District in Ho Chi Minh City. Well-known vendors of it include Cánh Đồng Hoang, Cô Ba Nữ and Sáu Quẻn. Cháo nấm is a version with mushrooms, and cháo is typically served with quẩy on the side.

  In Myanmar, congee is called hsan byoke or hsan pyoke, literally "(uncooked) rice boiled". It is often just rice and water, though chicken or pork stock sometimes goes in. A simple garnish of chopped spring onions and crispy fried onions is typical, with fish sauce or chilli flakes added as the diner likes.

  In Cambodia, congee is called babor, and it is one breakfast option alongside kuyteav. People eat it in the countryside and in the cities, usually during the colder dry season or when someone is sick. The two main versions are plain congee and chicken congee, which contains more herbs. Toppings include bean sprouts, green onions, coriander and pepper, with dried fish and fried breadsticks on the side.

  In Laos, congee is khao piak, literally "wet rice". It is cooked with rice and chicken broth or water, then garnished with fried garlic, scallions and pepper. It is usually eaten at breakfast and during the cold season. Sometimes the bowl arrives with chicken, quail eggs, century eggs or youtiao.

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• 6. Islands and Ports

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  In Indonesia, the word for congee is bubur, and travelling bubur ayam vendors pass through residential streets in the morning. Bubur ayam is congee with shredded chicken. The condiments include green onion, crispy fried shallot, fried soybean, youtiao, which Indonesians call cakwe, and both salty and sweet soy sauce. Sometimes it is topped with yellow chicken broth and kerupuk crackers.

  Unlike some other Indonesian dishes, bubur ayam is not spicy, and sambal or chili paste is served separately. Some vendors also offer sate made from quail egg or chicken intestine, liver, gizzard or heart. In Malaysia, congee is known as porridge or bubur.

  On the north coast of Bali, the village of Bondalem is famous for mengguh, a chicken and vegetable congee. It is spicier than bubur ayam and closer to tinutuan, using a mix of onions, garlic, coriander seeds, pepper and chili. In Manado, North Sulawesi, tinutuan, also called bubur Manado, is rice porridge served with plenty of vegetables. It includes kangkung, corn kernels, yam or sweet potato, dried salted fish, kemangi leaves and melinjo leaves.

  In eastern Indonesia, the local version is papeda, made from sago flour. It is a staple food of the Maluku and Papuan people. It is usually eaten with a yellow soup of tuna or mubara fish, spiced with turmeric and lime.

  In Singapore, Teochew porridge is considered a comfort food for both breakfast and supper. It is usually served as a banquet of small plates, with plain rice porridge at the center. Recipes that early immigrants prepared were modified over the generations to suit local tastes. No list of side dishes is fixed, but accompaniments typically include lor bak, which is braised pork, steamed fish, stir-fried water spinach, salted egg, fish cake, tofu, omelette, minced meat, braised tau kway and Hei Bee Hiang, a fried shrimp chilli paste.

  In the Philippines, lugaw is the generic term for rice gruel, and it covers savory and dessert dishes. In the Visayan regions, savory lugaw is known as pospas. It typically uses glutinous rice, called malagkit in Tagalog and pilit in Visayan. It is usually thicker than other Asian congees and keeps the shape of the rice, yet has a similar texture.

  Savory lugaw is flavored with ginger and traditionally topped with scallions and toasted garlic. Dried red safflower, called kasubha, may be added mainly as a garnish, giving the dish a more appealing yellow tinge. The most popular variants are arroz caldo with chicken, goto with beef tripe, lugaw na baboy with pork, lugaw na baka with beef, and lugaw na tokwa't baboy with diced tofu and pork. Others use tinapa, which is smoked fish, frog legs, or pig brain, tongue and beef ligaments. Cooks season them with calamansi, fish sauce, soy sauce and black pepper. Filipinos living in colder climates favor lugaw because it is warm, soft and easy to digest.

  The dessert versions are usually eaten for breakfast but can also be a snack. Binignit is lugaw in coconut milk with various fruits and root crops, and ginataang mais adds sweet corn and coconut milk. Champorado is lugaw made with home-made chocolate and topped with milk.

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• 7. South Asian Kitchens

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  In Tamil Nadu, kanji is a staple nourishing breakfast among the working classes, though it is often eaten at lunch and dinner too. All classes regard it as an excellent food for convalescence. Rice kanji is the most popular. Sweet rice kanji has milk and sugar or jaggery added to the cooked rice soup, while salt rice kanji takes buttermilk and salt. Other kinds use wheat, mung bean, ragi or millet, or multiple grains.

  In Karnataka, ganji means plain rice porridge or the thick water from overcooked rice. In the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, ganji made from parboiled or red, brown or white rice was the staple food of most inhabitants. Tulu-speaking Shivalli Brahmin households prepare a special ganji on Dwadashi. The Jain ganji matts of these districts are famous, and they usually serve simple ganji with pickle and milk.

  In that region, grated fresh coconut is skimmed for its milk, which is added to the ganji. It is served hot with fish curry, coconut chutney or Indian pickles. In Goa, ganji is normally served with dried or fresh cooked fish, papad or vegetables.

  In Kerala, kanji used to be considered a main course, particularly for dinner. It comes with roasted coconut chutney, tossed mung bean known as payar, and roasted pappadam. Puzhukku, a side dish of root tubers, is added especially during Thiruvathira. Royal households and rich people had a special kind called palkanji, meaning "milk congee", in which milk replaced water.

  During the Malayalam month of Karkkidakam, a medicinal kanji is made with Ayurvedic herbs, milk and jaggery. The month is known as the month of diseases because the monsoon starts then, and the kanji is eaten to promote the immune system. Pazhamkanji, meaning old congee, is leftover from the previous day. Some households re-cooked leftover rice and curries into congee water for a mix-mash dish.

  During Ramadan, Tamil Muslims, Mappila and Beary in south India prepare nombu kanj, meaning "fasting porridge". It is made with turmeric, dry ginger, pepper, onion and coconut paste, and sometimes fenugreek seeds.

  Ragi kanji is made by drying ragi sprouts in shade and grinding them into a smooth powder. It can be given to infants after six months. Another preparation uses roasted, powdered jevvarisi, which is sago, and is eaten by everyone from adults to infants as young as three months.

  In the Konkan region of Maharashtra, farming and manual labour communities eat pez daily in the late morning as a source of energy. Nachnyachi pez uses ragi and rice. A sweeter version called athwal or metheachi pez uses rice, fenugreek and jaggery and is usually served to a nursing mother.

  In Andhra Pradesh, the filtered liquid from rice boiled in large amounts of water is called ganji in Telugu. Mixed with buttermilk, it is believed to add flavor, and doctors suggest it for patients in ailing health. In Odisha, kaanji is a soup-based dish that tastes a little sour. It is made from rice starch fermented for a few days in an earthen pot, with mustard seeds and turmeric, and served hot.

  In Sri Lanka, several types of congee are known as kenda in Sinhalese. Made with rice and water only, it is hal kenda. Adding much more salt makes it lunu kenda, a supplementary diet in purgation therapy in indigenous medical traditions. Rice flour and coconut milk make kiriya, and finger millet flour and water make kurakkan anama. Sago gives sawu kenda, and kitul flour mixed with boiling water and coconut milk gives kitul piti kenda.

  A special congee called pol kiri kenda comes from the byproducts of coconut oil production. Kola kenda is congee with herbs, and Sinhala villagers use specific tubers from Diascorea species. Most of the time kiriya, kurakkan kenda, sawu kenda, pol kiri kenda and kitul piti kenda are eaten as sweets. Sugar, dates, raisins, cashew nut, jaggery and treacle may be added.

  Sri Lankan Moors eat congee for iftar during Ramadan. Tamils and Moors call it arisi kanji and may use chicken or beef. Chithirai kanji, made for a festival in the Tamil month of Chithirai, which coincides with April and May, is a salty kanji with green chilis, onions and coconut milk.

  In Nepal, congee is known as jaulo. It is made plain with salt and lots of water, or with pulses such as moong or red lentil, and tempered with fenugreek seeds and ghee. It is considered a light food, eaten on sick days or as a light supper.

  In the Maldives, baipen is a bland rice porridge. During Ramadan, Maldivian Muslims break their fast with baipen and rihaakuru, and eat it with maskurolhi, a spicy tuna and coconut sambal. In Eydhafushi, baipen is fermented for a week before it is eaten. It is called Honihiru baipen, meaning Saturday rice porridge, because it is consumed on Saturday.

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• 8. Beyond Asia

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  Among the Indo-Caribbean Tamil community, a dish called Kandji or Kanchi is made with rice, chickpeas, black eyed peas, onions, grated coconut and salt. It is traditionally eaten after a puja and offered to Kali Amman, a syncretic mix of Mariamman and Kali. She is the main goddess of the community. The ingredients are traditionally gathered by begging door to door, and the dish is prepared in the temple's complex.

  In Upper Hungary, which is today Slovakia, a version of the dish is a traditional food among the Hungarian population. It is also used as a strudel filling.

  In Portugal, a traditional soup of rice and chicken meat is named canja, or canja de galinha. The Portuguese had likely picked up the dish from their colonies in western or southern India or Sri Lanka, where the soup remains a staple, particularly for the ill. The rice is not cooked as long as in Asian congee, so it is very soft but not disintegrated. Canja is also eaten traditionally in Brazil and Cape Verde, both former Portuguese colonies.

  Traditionally, cooks use a boiling fowl that contains small, immature eggs. The eggs are carefully boiled and served in the canja, which is sometimes topped with a fresh mint leaf. The Portuguese value it strongly as comfort food, given to people recovering from disease, as in Asia. In some regions of Portugal, there is even a custom of feeding the mother a strict diet of canja in the first weeks after childbirth.

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