Chicken Liver, Mushroom, and Spinach Congee

Growing up I hated congee. Mushy rice and no substance it was spoon fed to me as a sick child.

As an adult it’s become one of my favorite meals. And today as I am sick with a sore throat congee is all I want. Like most home dishes congee is made with what’s available. Ideally I like a white creamy congee with thinly sliced ginger and scallions and top fried onions. In the soup would be century egg and salted egg.

Today’s recipe will be different because I don’t have century egg or salted egg. Nor did I have fresh ginger or scallions. And when you are sick there is no energy to go and get groceries.

The congee I am making is my mom’s favorite – chicken liver congee with shiitake mushroom and spinach. I bought a large amount of chicken livers for a Italian pasta dish and so I had some left over. The mushrooms and spinach were for a pizza recipe that failed.

Other unique ingredient I added was dried ginger. Because I need ginger when I am sick and while there isn’t any fresh quantities on hand I have plenty of dry ground ginger.

Ingredients

1/4 cup sticky rice
1/4 cup jasmine or basmati rice
3 cups of water/ chicken stock
1 tbsp of ground ginger
1 cube of chicken stock (omit if using stock)
2 tbsp of Chinese wine or dry sherry
4 or 5 pieces of chicken livers
2 medium shallots
1 cup of shiitake mushrooms
1 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes per bowl:

1 tbsp of fried onions
1 hand full of fresh spinach

Instructions

1. In a medium pot add water/stock, rice and ground ginger. Place on stove and bring to a boil.
2. Once the pot is boiling lower the heat and add sherry or Chinese wine. Cook for 15 mins or until the rice is cooked
3. Add shallots and livers. Cook on low heat for another 30 mins or until the congee is at the desired texture. Stir the pot periodically. To keep from burning at the bottom of the pot.
4. Using a wooden spoon break up some of the livers.
5. In a small pan heat the oil until hot and add the mushrooms and soy sauce. Fry until the mushrooms are brown and cooked.
6. Add cooked mushroom to the congee and stir. Turn off heat.

To serve:
Add a spinach to the bottom of the bowl and pour in the congee stir to mix and cook the spinach. Finish a sprinkle of fried onions.