Posts RSS Subscribe to Feed
Sign Up for Latest Recipes!

Prawn Congee Recipe

Monday, November 09, 2009 | Labels: , , , , |

Whenever fall is here, I start to yearn for some old-fashioned, traditional Chinese comfort foods - so with my last feature being one of my favourite Cantonese style 'old-fire' soups, today I feature yet another famous comfort food, the congee. Congee is available in all kinds of versions in most Asian cultures - today's simple recipe is a flavourful and 'sweet' congee with tiger prawns. The 'sweetness' referred to here is not of the sugary sweet variety but rather, a sixth flavour if you will that is more related to 'freshness'. I like to boil my prawn congee with tiger prawns (shell-on) as the shells really provide a better dimension to the taste. As with most seafood, the length of which the prawns are boiled in the congee is of paramount importance, it just takes a bit of awareness on the cook's part and in no time, you will have a 'feel' for how long you should cook the prawns to achieve the right amount of 'bite' while escaping the sad taste of overcooked, rubbery prawns!

Photobucket

You may add more variety of seafood into the congee as well and you will then have seafood congee! It is really simple and with a little bit of imagination, you can maximise the ingredients you have left in your fridge and create some new recipes that you can tuck away in your apron. I like to marinate my prawns mostly in Chinese rice wine, a bit of ginger and mirin before putting them into the congee to mask the fishiness while adding some fragrance to the mix.

Photobucket



Ingredients:
1/2 cup of white rice (soaked for 30 minutes to 1 hour)
10 cups of water (you can substitute 2 cups of water with chicken broth for even more flavour)
10 tiger prawns (shell-on, heads-on is even better if you feel so inclined)
2 inches worth of fresh ginger (cut into small slices, leave 1/2 inch unchopped)
2 stalks green onions, sliced

Marinade:
6 tbsps of Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp Mirin
Dash of sesame oil
1 tsp salt

At the table:
Soy sauce (to taste)
Sesame oil (optional)
White pepper (to taste)

Photobucket

Method:

First, wash the rice accordingly and soak for at least 30 minutes - this step is to ensure a smoother consistency for the congee. Meanwhile, marinate the prawns. Boil the soaked rice together with the water/broth and unchopped ginger in a large pot, once brought to a boil, turn the heat lower to medium low and let boil until it reaches congee consistency. There is really no hard and fast rule for the consistency of the congee, it really depends on personal preferences, add more or less rice according to desire.

Once you have achieved the consistency you desire, drop the marinated prawns in and watch closely. I only boiled the prawns for about 2-3 minutes to ensure that they didn't get overcooked - remember that the prawns will continue to 'cook' in the hot congee even after the heat is turned off. Ladle into individual bowls, and add as much green onions, ginger as you like - add dashes of soy, sesame oil and white pepper to your liking. Congee to me is best served piping, tongue-burningly hot!


Bookmark and Share


StumbleUpon

12 comments:

jen ® said...

wow! i never eat prawn congee before. i must try this! thanks for the recipe :)

tigerfish said...

Me too! Never had prawn congee before! Very luxurious :D

Tastes of Home said...

really jen? lol, I eat prawn congee a lot whenever I visit Ipoh especially

TF - thanks! :)

noobcook said...

me three! it sounds great, must be really sweet

Carolyn Jung said...

It's definitely congee weather now. Nothing better than that to warm every bone in your body.

jen ® said...

oh really? where can i get prawn congee you used to eat in ipoh? would love to try it. i don't sound like i was born and bred in ipoh right, lol.

lishapisa said...

I love congee! so soothing and satisfying. But never made it with prawn how exciting, thank you ! :)
please see my posting for the love of congee on my blog i share with my 3 sisters....
http://cookng.blogspot.com/search/label/congee

pigpigscorner said...

I've never had prawn congee too! looks so good!

Anonymous said...

It is rather interesting for me to read this article. Thanx for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.

Tastes of Home said...

Carolyn - yup ur so right! weather in SD has been kinda warming up again though lol

Wiffy - thanks!

Jen - I forgot the name of the restaurant but there is another one which is more like a streetside stall, I dont know LOL ur from KL right?

lishapisa - thanks! I will be sure to check it out, thanks for stopping by too :)

PPC - thanks hehe..ur screen name always brings a smile to my face LOL

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

Prawn congee sounds and looks divine!

Tastes of Home said...

^ thanks Ju! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Creative Commons Licence
Smoky Wok by Smoky Wok is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.smokywok.com.
No content from this website including images, recipes, writings may be reproduced without prior consent from the author.















Smoky Wok

Smoky Wok

Smoky Wok