Duck Stock, Brown Rice, and Sweet Corn Congee
You may be asking yourself “What is congee?” and that’s ok as it isn’t well known outside of various Asian cuisines. The best way to describe it is that it’s a simple porridge made with rice, water or stock, and garnished with other ingredients to give it a little color, freshness, spiciness, flavor, or texture.
Congee is my go-to dish when I want something filling but not necessarily heavy, and it’s a great way to use up leftovers!
I usually make brown rice congee with chicken stock and have it with my finadene sauce (soy sauce, lemon juice, scallions, and fresh chilis). This time I made a duck stock from the leftover bones from recent work for Grove Ladder Farm, and I had some Florida sweet corn left over from making the “Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup” post that I froze.
If you don’t have duck stock, no worries, just replace it with a stock of your choice. I’ve even made this with fish stock I made with grouper collar, and salmon stock made from salmon heads I bought from a local fishmonger.
If you do want to make duck stock follow my recipe for Basic Chicken Stock and replace the chicken bones with duck bones. Just know that duck bones will be bigger and heavier than chicken bones so adjust the quantities for the other stock ingredients accordingly.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups organic brown rice
- 4 cups duck stock
- May also be made with chicken, shrimp, fish, salmon, pork, turkey, or vegetable stock or plain water.
- 4 cups hot water (or more stock)
- This is to be added to the congee as it is cooking and until you get the consistency you like.
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 cups fresh (or frozen) sweet corn
- Have some fun and try other veggies
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Thyme goes well with sweet corn but you can use any herb/s or spices that you prefer.
- Have some fun and experiment!
- 1 garlic clove minced (optional)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 scallion sliced (garnish)
- Get creative! Try other garnishes like other fresh herbs, roasted veggies, or caramelized onions or garlic.
DIRECTIONS
Preparation:- Peel and dice the onion; set aside.
- Peel and mince the garlic; set aside. (optional)
- Thaw out the frozen corn, if used; set aside.
Cooking:
- Heat a large soup pot on medium-high, add the oil when the pot has warmed up, wait a minute for the oil to heat up, add the onions (and garlic), stir frequently, cook until translucent (about 2 minutes).
- Add the brown rice, stir to coat all the rice with the oil, add the dried thyme, stir.
- Add the sweet corn and stock, stir to mix well, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
- Cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.
- Most cooking instructions on the outside of packaged brown rice will call for around 45 minutes of cooking time, but for congee you want the rice to break down, essentially over-cooked rice.
- Add hot water one cup at a time as you see the rice begin to absorb the liquid in the pot.
- You don’t want to add cold water to the cooking congee as it will slow down the cooking process. (A technique I borrowed from making risotto.)
- The congee is done when the rice has broken down and much of the starch has been released into the soup making it thick and creamy.
- Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Your duck stock, brown rice, and sweet corn congee is ready.
- Garnish with the sliced scallions.
ENJOY!
Duck Stock, Brown Rice, and Sweet Corn Congee
This is part of a series of posts that are a collaboration between myself and Grove Ladder Farm, a small, family-run farm in Sarasota, Florida that specializes in pasture-raised, non-GMO, soy-free poultry for meat and eggs. I created recipes/dishes that featured their various products in order to provide them with photographs to use in their online and print marketing materials. The photos are used with their permission.
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