Vegan Congee (Jook, Rice Porridge)

Hi everyone, today we are making a vegan version of one of my favorite comfort foods, rice porridge, commonly known as kanji. I usually call it jok because well, I'm Cantonese and it's also known as jo in Mandarin. Here are the ingredients that I used to flavor this jok. For umami flavor, I used six dried shiitake mushrooms, which I soaked with about two cups of water overnight. It's better to use dried shiitake mushrooms for this recipe because the flavor of the mushrooms are more intense. I also used a few stalks of lemongrass. To prepare the lemongrass, peel one or two of the outer layers, then slice off the bottoms and cut the stalk into several sections of about three inches long each. To release more flavor, bash the lemongrass sections with a kitchen mallet or tenderizer. I don't typically use the thin tops of the lemongrass because they're a pain to dig out the jok later on, but you can use them if you want to. I'm peeling a two-inch piece of ginger with a spoon and then I'm going to slice the ginger into thin slices. I'm also adding a few cloves of garlic for flavor. Pour one cup of jasmine rice into a large pot. I normally rinse the rice to wash away some of the starch, but I totally forgot to do that during the filming. It's okay, the extra starch will just thicken the jok even more. Add the lemongrass, ginger, and garlic to the pot. Then add the soaked mushrooms along with the water that was used to soak them. I like a pretty thick jok, which is why I use a 1 to 9 rice to liquid ratio. You can use more or less liquid to suit your taste. So there's two cups of mushroom water in the pot already and I'm adding two more cups of water along with five cups of vegetable broth. This is just broth that I made using Better Than Bouillon vegetable base, which is a paste that I dilute with hot water. Add some kosher salt to the pot too. Cover the pot and bring the liquid to a boil over medium-high heat. Then reduce the heat to a very low simmer and cook the jok for about an hour. Keep an eye out on the pot occasionally to make sure it doesn't boil over like mine did because otherwise there's going to be a lot more cleanup. About halfway through the cooking, uncover the pot and give the jok a stir to ensure that you don't have any rice stuck to the bottom of the pot. Then just cover the pot and let the jok finish cooking. Now when you first open the pot after about an hour of simmering, the jok might look very watery, but just give everything a stir. The jok will look a lot thicker. Conversely, if you find the jok is too thick, mix in a cup of filtered water. Jok is often served with fried dough sticks called 油条 or 油炸鬼 in Cantonese. I bought these frozen from an Asian supermarket and heated them up in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. I like eating jok with white pepper, a splash of chili sesame oil, and soy sauce. I'm topping everything with sauteed shiitake mushrooms. I also like to sprinkle furikake on top for some sweetness. Not all furikake is vegan, so be sure to check the label. I also like sprinkling sliced scallions on top. That's it for this jok recipe. It's super easy and it's great for breakfast or a light meal. You can find the full recipe on my website, which I linked to below. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel for more videos.