Instant Pot Chicken Congee (Rice Porridge)
Congee is an excellent any day, any time comfort food, especially for one of those cold winter days or sick days. It is so easy on the tummy and gives such a wonderful soothing feeling, that you will always end up craving for more.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken I use drumsticks or bone-in thighs for more flavor
- 1 oz Ginger about big thumb size ginger piece sliced into pieces
- 2 cups Jasmine rice
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 7 cups water
- 7 cups chicken broth
- 2 big stalks green onions optional
Condiments suggestions:
- Scallions green onions
- chili oil my family's favorite
- toasted sesame oil
- soy sauce
- ground white pepper
- cilantro leaves
- fried onions
- crispy fried garlic
- roasted salted peanuts
Instructions
Prep
- Wash the rice thoroughly.
- Remove the skin and slice the ginger into thin discs or strips.
- Slice the green onions and separate the green parts and white parts.Keep the green parts for garnishing.
- Wash the chicken and remove the skin if you prefer.
- Measure the water and broth and keep them ready.
Cook
- Now dump the ginger slices, chicken pieces, white parts of green onions, rice, water+broth and salt in the instant pot inner pot, close the instant pot lid, close the vent by moving it to seal position and cook on manual mode for 25 mins on high pressure.( Press manual, press - or + buttons to adjust the time, press pressure level button to adjust the pressure to high and then press on manual again to start).
- It will take around one hour for the instant pot to build pressure (displays ON) and cook(displays minutes countdown from 25 to 1) and then finally switch to off mode. Once it is in off mode let the steam release naturally for at least 15 mins and then release the rest of the pressure manually by turning the knob to vent. Now open the instant pot lid. It will look watery at the first look but don't worry it will thicken with in few minutes as you stir.
- Mix everything well and remove the chicken bones from the pot to discard. Chicken will be falling of the bones so yo don't need to shred it separately again.Just stir everything together really well and that will separate any chicken from the bones easily.
Garnish and enjoy
- Serve it in a bowl with your favorite condiments and enjoy! Some suggestions for condiments are scallions (green onions), chili oil (my family's favorite, Chiu chow style chili oil by Lee Kum Kee brand is our favorite), ground white pepper, sesame oil, cilantro leaves, fried onions, crispy fried garlic.
Notes
- Don't put too much salt before cooking as we are also using broth while cooking. You can always add more salt after cooking
- Since it is a porridge, wait for at least 10 ideally 15 mins to do a manual release of pressure.
- If you want, you can switch on the saute mode for couple mins after you open the lid and mix everything well, to thicken the congee more but my guess is you won't need it.
- This congee is slightly on the thicker side. If you want more runny congee, add 1 cup water+1 cup broth additionally to the recipe before cooking.