Instant Pot Chicken Congee and PIE!

Bringing the comfort

The past couple of weeks have been busy, between work and preparing to get out of town for a couple of weeks. One thing that has gotten me out of my head every day has been taking the time to slow down and cook intentionally. It is easy to get caught up in our never ending tasks lists, but there is something special about letting it all go and settling into the present moment with all of your senses.

If you read last week's newsletter, you know that my passion for pastry has been reignited. Last weekend, we headed straight to the farmer's market to see what berries were in season. The fates were with me as it happened to be right in the middle of Hood strawberry season. This only lasts for a few weeks each year. These delicate, sweet, and juicy strawberries are some of the best I've ever tasted. In fact, they are so deeply *strawberry* in flavor that they almost seem artificial. It also happens to be rhubarb season, so strawberry rhubarb pie it is.

Of course this called for homemade vanilla ice cream.

I'm seriously going to have to step up how much I walk every day if I plan to not gain 600lbs. Not being deterred by guilt just yet, I baked a chocolate pie with salted caramel ice cream this weekend. The ice cream wasn't quite firm enough yet, but I my patience ran shorter than set time. As I posted on Instagram, this combination triggered a slightly religious experience. For a moment there, I thought I saw God.

Not everything can be sweet, so I wanted to share my take a one of the most comforting comfort foods I eat on the regular; congee. If you follow my instagram, you probably saw a picture of congee from Cozy Congee PDX. My fascination with this dish started while working through the regional dishes of Guangdong Province, China. It crescendoed into pure obsession when I tried the Portuguese version, incorporating cilantro oil as a topping. Since then, I've been making this dish every couple of weeks, a batch being just large enough to have for lunch throughout most of the week. I've adapted a couple of recipes I have found online in a manner that results in an incredibly simple to make, yet delicious version of this iconic dish.

While the cycles of pressure cooking take a little time, there is very little active time in this recipe. It is equally great for a lazy Sunday afternoon or busy work from home Tuesday. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Instant Pot Chicken Congee

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• knob of ginger

• green onions (2-3 for the broth and extra for garnish)

• 3-4lb whole chicken

• 1 cup Jasmine rice

• 2+ cups of spinach or other similar leafy green (optional)

• Other garnishes as desired, such as a soft-boiled egg, chili crisps, fried shallots, green onions, or cilantro

Instructions

Start by cooking the chicken and making the broth.

1. Thinly slice the ginger and cut the green onions into large sections. Place in the bottom of the instant pot.

2. Put a trivet in the bottom of the instant pot and fill with enough water to be just short of touching the metal of the trivet.

3. Salt the outside of your chicken and place in the instant pot, breasts-side down.

4. Cook on high pressure for about 25 minutes.

5. Let the instant pot depressurize naturally, remove the chicken. You won't use all of the chicken for this recipe, so feel free to put some aside. I like to save the breasts for other uses and use the leg and thigh meat. Shred or chop what you plan to use.

6. Strain out the broth and set aside. Quickly rinse out the instant pot, but no need to clean it. Just get rid of any sediment or leftover ingredients.

Make the rice porridge.

1. Rinse 1 cup of Jasmine rice and place in the instant pot

2. Add the preserved broth from the previous step (you should have about 1 pint)

3. Add around 4 cups of water, depending on how much broth you had from the previous step.

4. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.

5. Let the pressure release naturally, then take a whisk and stir the rice. You want the rice to break down and almost emulsify with the water, but no so broken down that you can't tell it is still rice.

6. Add your leafy greens, if using, and stir until wilted.

7. At this point you can use it as is, topping the rice with the chicken as you serve it, or add the shredded/chopped chicken back into the pot. I like doing it both ways, but for ease of warming up later, I tend to prefer adding the chicken into the rice at this step.

Serve in a bowl and garnish however you prefer. My favorite way is to slice some green onions and add a large drizzle of chili crisps.