Congee with Pork Rib (by G)

Biggs requested that I make congee before she departs for her Christmas holidays and this is pretty much the only night that was available.  I decided not to make brown rice congee this time - it doesn't work. The congee pictured below was made by boiling a cup of basmati rice in about 2 litres of a light chicken style stock for two hours, whisking occasionally to break up the rice grains. I added some smoked salt at the end just for kicks.

The best thing about congee is the fixin's. The toppings provided were red chilli, coriander, shallot, toasted sesame seeds, toasted crushed nuts (they looked like peanuts but the packet was not specific) and the meat from some slow cooked pork ribs.

The marinade for the ribs was based on a char siu recipe - hoisin, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot sauce (sriracha), ginger powder, onion powder, garlic powder and 5 spice. The recipe also called for brandy and red food colouring - I didn't have either of these so I substituted with red wine.  After about 3 hours in the oven the ribs became pretty tender and plenty delicious.

All things considered I'm pretty happy with my attempt at congee - at least I probably haven't turned Biggs off the concept.