INSTANT POT - Brown Rice Jook (Congee or Rice Porridge) 죽

Brown Rice Jook 7:1

I did it.  I bought an Instant Pot.  I got tired of boil overs on my rice porridge or as Koreans call it Jook - 죽.  Or as Chinese or most caucasians in North America call it Congee.  Basically a peasant food meant to extend rice during times when Rice was a rare commodity... not bought in 15kg bags by mom.  I even tried to cook rice and then re-cook it in the Rice Cooker or just add 'too' much water to the Rice Cooker.  Both ended in a goopy disaster.  Seriously, don't try it.  I have (had) a simple Aroma Rice Cooker because it rated tops against some $300 heavy hitters on Cook's Illustrated.  But it didn't have a porridge setting.  I research spiralled myself into a Cuckoo that has a pressure function BUT the inner lining didn't remove and that grossed me out so I returned it.  Thank you Amazon!  So then I replaced with the Aroma, deciding that just having not to babysit a pot to do Brown Rice alone was worth it and being able to have Jook everyonce in a while was not worth 200 bucks!  

Then over my Jan/Feb cleanse, when I was eating alot of Jook, I got super tired of the boil overs and babysitting and even brown rice, sometimes I didn't want to wait the 2.5 hours that my rice cooker takes to make brown rice, I tried to turbo boil it on the stove and that boils over so easily with the bubbles no matter how much you wash your rice before.  Anyhoo, i then decided my time and frustration was finally worth the $200 plus, now Instant Pot closed that gap to just like $100 or even just $50 more if you buy a damaged box from Amazon.

Hubbo agreed, mainly out of practicality but I also suspect, to get me to agree to change a chair in the living room.  I added the added bonus after the fact, after he saw it was an Instant Pot and not just a fancy rice cooker, that MAYBE we could get rid of my crock pot.  He's not sure it's big enough because we bought a 6qt.  I'll do the measuring later.

Over the next few posts, I will post different proportions of Water and Brown Rice and White Rice.  I could not find any recipes on Jook or Congee directly from Instant Pot nor anyone who didn't put Chicken in it. 

BROWN RICE JOOK - 죽 - CONGEE 7:1

Serves 2

1/2 c Brown Rice (I used short grain)
1/4 c Jasmine Rice (or short grain white)
3 tried Mushrooms, chopped into 1 cm sized pieces
1 inch Ginger, julienned (or chunks if you don't mind, I don't mind and after pressure cooking, it was SOFT)
2 cloves Garlic, sliced (this basically melted under pressure)

5 1/4 c Water (or veggie broth)
1/4 t Salt (optional)

Extra:
1/4 c Grain/Lentil Mix (from Costco, it has lentils, quinoa, barley and dried onion)
1/2 c Water

With or without the Extra,  CLOSE and lock your Instant Pot, make sure the vent is on SEALED.  Choose "Porridge" and manually up the default time to 35 minutes.  The default time is presumably for White Rice or Oats.  Brown will need more time.

Now, let it 'Vent Naturally".  I heard from some posters, it gives the rice extra time to soften.  I may try just a longer cook time and a manual vent later.  What that means is the little silver do-hicky next to the vent will drop down into the cooker once the 'Pressure is Off and safe".  I'm afraid to ask or check but I'm not sure the lock is idiot-proof and I'm not about to test it.  So even after the "natural vent", I checked the manual to ensure it was ok.  Long story short "DO NOT TRY TO OPEN IT EVER DURING COOKING OR UNTIL PRESSURE IS OFF".

When you open it, it will look like a soupy mess.  I'd read that before about the brown Rice jooks because there's no stirring.  I tried jiggling the whole pot while cooking, careful not to touch any part of the lid, particularly not around the handles.  DO NOT TRY THIS PLEASE!!! but it didn't matter, I don't think.  Anyhoo, a quick stir of the pot and the lid back on for a few minutes, (it was still hot), and it looked great!

So this was TRIAL:  7 to 1, Water to RICE, 35 minute cook, natural vent.


Toppings:

Serve with Chopped Cilantro, Sesame Seeds, Chia Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Fried Onions, Green Onions, what ever you want.  


#congee, #Jook, #instantpot