Jook or Rice Porridge
one serving
Jook, or Congee, appears across East Asian cuisine. It is fed to infants, invalids, and eaten both for breakfast and as a late-night snack.
This is really more of a blueprint than a formal recipe. Jook is hard to ruin; the only thing to avoid is overcooking the rice to mush. In this most abstemious form, it can nourish even the very ill. Fresh ginger is excellent for nausea.
One cup chicken broth
scant 1/4 cup white rice
a little fresh ginger, minced (optional)
Put broth and rice in a small pot over medium-low heat and cook, uncovered, for about one hour. You want the rice grains to burst, but not get so thick they soak up all the broth.
Optional ingredients include minced garlic, thinly sliced scallion, soy sauce, Sambal Oelek or hot chile oil, and shredded cooked chicken. Recipe amounts can easily be doubled or tripled; I often make large batches and refrigerate them to eat later.