Got Jook?

[Lum]

Or as everyone else seems to call it, "rice congee". I started making my own and now I feel like an idiot for all the leftover rice I have heretofore chucked into the garbage. It is sooo easy to make and of course, very tasty. The thing is I can't seem to get past the soy sauce and parsley flakes if I want to jazz it up a bit, and unlike my mother I don't have a gateway-to-the-land-of-endless-turkey-bones in my freezer. I turned to the internet for ideas and found one person who makes a sweet variety of Jook with maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg, which sounded good. It wasn't. It seems like only certain flavors can permeate the rice enough to make it palatable and let me tell you, maple syrup does not seem to be one of them. Any suggestions from the 44's?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_congee

[Hater Depot]

In Korea there are some restaurant chains that make it many different ways. I'm a big fan of the pumpkin variety.

[minbo]

I usually have savoury Juk (or Jook). The only sweet Jook that I eat (I never call it congee on my own) is sweetened with sugar with sweet red beans (take Adzuki beans and boil them for a long time in sugar water, or simply buy in a can) or red bean paste (same thing, but mashed/blended into paste).

For savoury, some other things you can try is to use chicken broth or tea instead of plain water. For add-ins, chunks of chicken, sliced charsiu, bits of grilled Salmon, bits of grilled tuna, boiled peanuts, baby bok choy, scallions, pickled bamboo shoots, re-hydrated sliced black mushrooms, etc. Mix and match!

[ellencho]

It's a good leftover magnet. If I have small bits of leftover banchan or jangjorim I'll sometimes add that. But usually I keep it simple with sesame oil, scallions and s&p.

[blockthebox]

Shellfish. And don't just use soy sauce by itself. Create a sauce that includes soy sauce, vinegar, scallion, sesame oil, onions, garlic, etc.

[Lum]

Great suggestions! Some of these ingredients might be hard to find up here, but the scallions should have been a no-brainer and I will definitely be making a more complex sauce next time. The Korean pumpkin congee sounds very curious to me, but then so is the concept of ordering Jook in a restaurant. =) Now the boiled peanuts...that I believe is just the stroke of genius I was looking for.

[vsoy]

I like my jook plain but add stuff like pickled cucumber (and the juice!) and pork or fish song (shredded, fried stuff). Peanut gluten is good too. Lately I've been putting this Japanese bonito shaving mix which has sesame seeds and bits of seed weed which really amps it up. As a kid, I remember putting weird stuff like slices of American cheese and cheese puffs. I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

[nskripchun]

As a kid, I was forever imprinted with the taste of turkey jook... my mom would use the carcass leftover from Thanksgiving and also Xmas too (if we had turkey for Xmas).

Another good way to get flavor (and be a cheap bastard) is buy packs of chicken thighs on sale and close to expiration that still have the bone - they're usually always less pricey than the boneless thighs. That way, when you de-bone and skin the thighs, you get a nice collection of chicken bones and skin for future jook - wrap high bones/skin packs of 2-4 with saranwrap or foil (depending on how much jook you cook in a single setting) and stick 'em in the freezer. I then throw the old rice + the skin / thighs into a crockpot to make jook.

Fish jook is also a tasty fave of mine... instead of bones, you can shortcut the flavor by buying packs of Japanese hon-dashi (soup stock made from fish) for making the jook - just add a pack or 2 when you're boiling the rice into jook. Then you can shred some fish and add that later.

[kimtae]

Or you can go high end with abalone. Mmmm, abalone arghghghgh.

[nskripchun]

Or you can go high end with abalone. Mmmm, abalone arghghghgh.

baller!

Heck, I'm happy with just plain 'ol cod. Or mashing up some jyuu-dan (fishballs). Mmmm... fishballs.

[blockthebox]

Yeah, abalone is good. Also, in college, I'd always keep pork sung in my cupboard and put it on top of rice/jook when I didn't have anything else around.

[lycheng]

How about congee/jook with pidan (thousand-year old egg)? One of my all time favorites.

[Lum]

My mom used to scold me for pulling those eggs out of my Joong during DB. Never could handle 'em!

Looked for raw peanuts yesterday but couldn't find them in the supermarket. I thought they were used in some western dishes...?

[A_BoyNamedSiu]

How about congee/jook with pidan (thousand-year old egg)? One of my all time favorites.

Yup, my favorite too. I've always had it with Pai Dan with pork

[nightshade]

Dried scallop is always a delicious addition, though I think it has to be in the pot with the rice and water from the beginning in order to hydrate and impart its full deliciousness to the jook.

[averagejoette]

jook with salty egg and scallions. I also like taro and spinach in my jook.

An aunt of mine put oregano in jook just oregano, massive amounts of oregano...it was so bad, i almost cried.

[zhangfei]

Or as everyone else seems to call it, "rice congee". I started making my own and now I feel like an idiot for all the leftover rice I have heretofore chucked into the garbage. It is sooo easy to make and of course, very tasty. The thing is I can't seem to get past the soy sauce and parsley flakes if I want to jazz it up a bit, and unlike my mother I don't have a gateway-to-the-land-of-endless-turkey-bones in my freezer. I turned to the internet for ideas and found one person who makes a sweet variety of Jook with maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg, which sounded good. It wasn't. It seems like only certain flavors can permeate the rice enough to make it palatable and let me tell you, maple syrup does not seem to be one of them. Any suggestions from the 44's?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_congee

How did I miss this thread?

Leftover rice? blasphemy! You need to use uncooked rice to make delicious Jook. Save leftover rice for fried rice.

[Lum]

How did I miss this thread?

Leftover rice? blasphemy! You need to use uncooked rice to make delicious Jook. Save leftover rice for fried rice.

Yeah I know it's ghetto...I only do that when there's not enough for fried rice. I never keep leftovers for more than a day.

[topdawg]

Speaking of jook... Anyone's had Soah Yok Jook? It's basically rice porriage cooked with pork and thousand years eggs... That shit's divine...

Damn I feel like a fool trying to explain Chinese food in English :rolleyes: