“Shrimp grits” congee

15 mins prep  |  45 mins cook
Difficulty: Easy  | Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain rice, washed
• 3L water or stock
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 400g peeled prawns
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• A thumb size piece of ginger, cut into batons
• 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
• Optional: hot sauce
• Garnish: chopped coriander

Preparation

1. Place rice and water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Turn down to medium and partially cover with lid so that steam can escape and it doesn’t boil over. Cook for 30-45 minutes until the consistency of porridge. Stir every now and again to prevent grains sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add more water if the porridge is looking too thick. The congee is done when you can see that the individual rice grains have broken down into soft flakes. Season with salt to your taste, remove from heat and divide into serving bowls.
2. While the congee is cooking, make the topping. Melt butter in a frying pan. Add the prawns, garlic, tomato, half the ginger, half the spring onion. Season with salt. Fry, stirring to cook evenly for 5 minutes until prawns are cooked.
3. Drizzle with your favourite hot sauce, stir to combine and remove from heat.
4. Arrange topping into the bowls on top of the congee and garnish with the rest of the ginger, spring onion and fresh coriander. Season fresh black pepper.

My family is Cantonese so I grew up with congee as a go-to comfort food.

Congee or “JOOK” (rhymes with book) in Cantonese is long grain rice cooked in plenty of water until it resembles a thick porridge. Also known as rice porridge, it can be served plain or stirred through or loaded with various toppings. Being notoriously squishy and easy to digest, it’s also a common baby food, or food for the sick or elderly. Eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. 100% comfort.

I’m more than a little obsessed with American soul food. I don’t know why, but shrimp and grits is a fascination of mine even though I’ve never visited the US. Having eaten shrimp and grits in Wellington recently, I’ve had it in my mind to recreate something similar at home. Shrimp and grits was traditionally a breakfast dish but now eaten at other meal times as well.