Super easy and delicious recipe for congee (Asian rice porridge) with tempeh, edamame, and pak choi. Don't miss out on this healthy Asian comfort food!
Heat the sesame oil in a medium pot and cook the rice and the garlic for 1-2 minutes. Then add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil, and turn down the heat to a simmer. Partially cover and continue to simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. Towards the end stir more often to make it creamier. Add more vegetable broth or water if needed.
In the meantime, make the tempeh. Heat some more sesame oil in a pan, add the tempeh, the soy sauce, and the paprika powder and cook for 4 minutes or until crispy. Season with salt and pepper.
Then make the pak choi. Heat 1/2 a tablespoon of water in a medium pan with a lid and steam the pak choi for about 3 minutes. Season with a splash of soy sauce.
Serve the congee (warm) with the toppings and top it off with a little bit of soy sauce and sriracha.
Notes
To prepare congee, rice is boiled in a large amount of water until it softens and becomes really thick and creamy. For me this took about one hour and I used one cup of rice and about 10 cups of vegetable broth. However, it's possible that you have to adjust the amount of vegetable broth a little bit.
Of course you can also use water, but I like it much better with vegetable broth.
I used long-grain rice, but I read that you could also make it with brown rice but then it takes considerably longer. However, I didn't try it myself.
If your congee is too thick, just add some boiling water to it.
You could also make a sweet version of congee by adding raisins, dates, and a bit of brown sugar.