liuzhou

While 油条 (yóu tiáo) is a popular breakfast item, I've never seen it served with congee here. It is eaten as an item in itself, usually with warm soya milk.

Everything is cooked together. Yes, the beans take a while and the rice is "overcooked" compared to rice used as an accompaniment to most dishes, but it that overcooked rice that provides the desired porridgy texture. Note however that black, red, brown rice etc. take more than the 20 minutes of regular white rice. Pressure cookers are often used. In fact, most modern, Chinese pressure cookers / IP clones have a marked congee setting.

Dark Dinner Chicken. Morels and Almond Mushrooms with Capers, Olives and Black Garlic. 'Forbidden' Black Rice. And for some reason - Nando's Hot Peri-Peri Sauce.

I suppose so. It is marketed towards feeding kids.

Garlicky clam soup with baby bok choy. 2 bowls with dunkable bread sufficed.

They do look better before they are cooked! But inedible!

Here is a closer look at the 八宝粥 (eight treasure congee mix) I mentioned yesterday.

Round here, most are sour and spicy, the local preference. In other areas they are less or not spicy.

Where to begin. Make a list of every vegetable you've ever heard of, add some fruits, then pickle them! A very strange and error-ridden Wikinonsense article suggests there are over 130 types. Yeah! A lot more, I'd say. Common: lotus root, daikon radish, onions, carrot, cucumber, ginger, garlic, apple, bitter melon, cabbage, various squashes, tofu ..... When I next get back to where I took the picture of the pickle selection I'll try to identify what they all were. It was lunchtime when I passed and didn't want to disturb the diners too much. I'll go earlier in the day when it might be empty.

Congee with pickled mustard plant stem and plum blossom pastries, a simple home-cooked breakfast

One more. 圣宝黑米粥 (shèng bǎo hēi mǐ zhōu) - Holy treasure black rice congee.

Here's another of those non-existent non-noodle Chinese pasta shapes. Multi-coloured couscous. Coloured with beet, spinach and pumpkin.

You can use any type of rice. I prefer long grain. Usually Thai jasmine rice. In fact, as I've shown many congees don't even use rice at all.

Some more premixed congee ingredients. 冰粥 (bīng zhōu) - Ice Congee. As the name suggests, this is served cold, often with added fruit. popular in Vietnam, too. 核桃红枣莲子粥 (hé táo hóng zǎo lián zi zhōu) - walnut, red jujube and lotus seed congee. 绿豆百合粥 (lǜ dòu bǎi hé zhōu) - Green mung bean, lily seed congee. 荞麦莲子粥 (qiáo mài lián zi zhōu) - buckwheat and lotus seed congee. 八宝粥 (bā bǎo zhōu) - Eight treasure congee. This is very popular. The eight treasures vary (and may not even be just eight) but include peanuts,, red jujubes, mung beans, red beans, corn, dried longan, walnut, Job's tears, millet, white kidney beans, lotus seeds and many more.

The original meaning of congee was the water rice rice had been boiled in, which was used for invalids and as a source of starch. The 'porridge' usage came much later.

It's nothing like risotto.

That's true for fried rice.

Yes. Freshly made is better, of course, but what you suggest is quite common.

Me too until I looked closer.

Here are a few congee places near my home. All within comfortable walking distance. The first is a place I used to frequent a lot, but haven't been in a while. No real reason. Just got out of the habit. A very typical, small restaurant. The sign on the left hand wall reads 粉 (fěn) meaning 'rice noodles' 面 (miàn) meaning 'wheat noodles' 粥 (zhōu) meaning 'congee' the three main items they sell. A bit further along I see this sign on a wall. 百粥 (bǎi zhōu) meaning '(plain) white congee' 玉米粥 (yù mǐ zhōu) meaning 'corn congee' For obvious reasons I give that a miss. Yet further on is this slightly more upmarket establishment. Among its selection is 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pí dàn shòu ròu zhōu) or 'century egg and lean pork congee'. 现煮墨鱼粥 (xiàn zhǔ mò yú zhōu）or 'cuttlefish congee'. 现煮海虾粥 (xiàn zhǔ hǎi xiā zhōu) or 'sea shrimp congee'. Nearby is another small place which only has outdoor seating (not virus related - it has never had indoor facilities except for the kitchen.) Here is the main communal table with all the condiments you could want for your plain congee. Mainly pickled vegetables of various sorts. Finally, I spotted this is one store I visited. 杂粮粥 (zá liáng zhōu) or 'mixed grain congee'. The grains involved are corn, white rice, black rice, and red Japonica rice. Note: Very few Chinese speakers of English know the word 'congee'. After all, it is neither Chinese or English, but of Indian origin, probably Tamil or Urdu. Most people here simply call it 'porridge' when using English.

Although I can see why, I find it interesting that people call farfalle "bowties". Both the Italian and Chinese names mean "butterflies".

Because you haven't seen them doesn't mean they don't exist! They are everywhere!

Here's KFC's attempt.