What's up everyone?
Today, Chef Daddy Lau is going to teach us his
Chicken congee recipe
In Cantonese, this classic porridge is known as "jūk"
But congee has as many names as it does variations
Since it's a staple of most Asian countries
Interestingly, in Chinese tradition
It's considered a bad omen to eat jook on Chinese New Year
When I asked my parents about it,
My mom explained that in the "old, old days"
Many people didn't have enough rice to eat
Using relatively small amounts of rice, they made
Big pots of congee to make their rice last longer
She said that, "the rich ate cooked rice, the poor ate jook"
And that congee is not a high-class food
But my dad quickly chimed in:
"This is not true, if cooked with high-class ingredients,"
"Porridge is a high-class meal."
Looking back at historical accounts, there's truth to both sides
Rice porridge saved the lives of the hungry masses
But also soothed the hearts and bellies of emperors past
And little princes and princesses of present
Chinese parents often feed baby congee to their infants
Since it's so easy to eat and digest
My parents started feeding us jook when we turned 1
And they'd always cook up a huge batch any time we got sick
Like many of you, jook will always bring me back to my childhood
Teaching us how to make this classic dish will be my dad
Who's been cooking Chinese food for over 50 years
And who also happens to be playing the flute
That you're listening to right now
After the recipe, I invite you to eat with us
As we dive into the subtleties of making congee
And what life was like for my parents growing up in China
If you're looking for a written version of this recipe
Check out our blog post at madewithlau.com
Where you'll find an adjustable list of ingredients
And step-by-step videos to guide you
As you make the recipe at home
Hope you guys enjoy!
Hello friends! I hope you are all doing well.
Today we'll be sharing our family recipe for chicken congee
This is a popular dish for us Cantonese people
First, for 4-6 people, we'll use 1 cup of rice
Then, I'll wash the rice. Let’s wash it twice.
For us Cantonese, we’re very particular about the soup base
We have to cook the soup base slowly and intentionally
Great - we've washed the rice. Place it to the side.
Next, we’ll start boiling 8 cups of water to save time for later
While we prepare all of our vegetables
Peel and chop about 1/2 oz ginger into thin slices, and then into thin strips
Then, we'll chop a few strands of cilantro and green onion into small pieces
If you don't like cilantro, feel free to skip it.
That's it - let's cut our chicken
I'm going to use 12 oz of chicken
If you want to use more, feel free
Once we cut it into thin slices and marinate it
When we put it in the congee, it'll be very tender
When you're cutting ingredients, place a towel underneath your board
That way, the board won't move all over the place
Gently cut it into thin slices
We're done cutting the chicken
Next, we'll marinate our chicken
Add 1 tbsp oyster sauce
Then, push the chicken to one side of the bowl to clear out space
Add 2 tsp cornstarch, 1 tsp chicken bouillon, 2 tbsp water
Mix and massage the marinade for about 30 seconds
Until there's no liquid left
Then, add 2 tbsp vegetable oil to the bowl
And mix it around with chopsticks for another 20-30 seconds
The benefit of adding oil is to prevent the chicken from clumping together
Another benefit - the oil helps trap the chicken's juices inside
Great! We're done chopping everything. Let’s start making our jook!
Cooking jook takes a lot of time
Great, for 4-6 people, we'll use 8 cups of water
To save on cooking time, we've boiled some water in advance
8 cups of water should be enough for us
After you're done pouring the water, set the stove to high heat
We'll wait until it boils, then bring it to medium heat
And then, wait for another 25 minutes
Cover the pot
Another tip for making congee:
Wait until the water is boiling until adding our washed rice
Here, since our water is already boiled, we can add the rice now
Once the pot is boiling again, don't stir the rice
If you stir, the rice will stick to the bottom of the pot more easily
Let's wait for it to boil - cover the pot
Making jook takes time. You need patience.
For us Cantonese, we need the soup base to be beautiful
Be patient
It's boiling now
Great, you can all see, it's boiling now
We'll stir it for a bit now, and then we won’t touch it again
Stir, and let it cook slowly
When you make jook, don’t stir too much
If you stir it too much, it will stick to the bottom of the pot
Remember this - don't stir too much.
Now, we'll cover the pot partially to prevent it from overflowing
Now, we'll adjust the stove to medium heat
When we started, we were at high heat
Now, after boiling, we've adjusted it to medium heat
It should take around 25 minutes to cook fully
For us Cantonese, we can't rush making beautiful congee. Be patient.
He's sad, he just took a nap. When he woke up, he went like this -
Hong Doy!
Cam, you wanna eat the porridge?
Oooh! How does the jook look?
We've already cooked the jook for 25 minutes
Let me take some out and show you
This rice is already cooked beautifully
Next, we'll use a whisk to break up our rice
So that it becomes even more heavenly soft
Stir constantly with the whisk for 2-3 minutes
Keep stirring constantly
So that the rice completely separates and becomes very soft
If you don't use a whisk, it's fine, you just need to cook it for longer
You’d cook for another 10 minutes
For us, this is faster, and we can eat sooner
This congee base is already very beautiful
Remember - don't stir after it's started boiling
See? The jook is done now, and it's not stuck to the bottom of the pot
Very beautiful
This thickness is just perfect
Any lighter, and it won't taste as good
Since I still have some ingredients to add
Great, now we'll set the stove to high heat
We'll be adding the chicken, which has already been marinated
We’ll add the chicken slowly and spread it apart
Don't pour it in all at once, mix and separate the pieces
Here, my dad gradually added his chicken over the course of 30 seconds
If you add it all at once, it will clump together
Just let it cook slowly
Using chopsticks, gently mix and separate the chicken
Gently stir the chicken around for about 1 minute
When the jook is boiling again, the chicken will be ready
See? See that? The chicken is ready
Now, we'll add our flavors
We'll add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp chicken bouillon
And the ginger we minced from earlier
Stir everything around for 20-30 seconds
Great, we can turn off our heat now
Now, we'll plate the congee
See how beautiful the chicken is? It’s so beautiful.
See that?
Let's pour the rest
That perfectly fills the bowl!
If you feel the jook is too thick for your liking
You can add some boiled water and mix it around
But if you’re comfortable with it, you don’t need to do anything
Let's add some green onions
And cilantro
Great!
We're done! What a great success!
This tender chicken congee is done, let's eat!
Let's bring it to the table. Call everyone over to eat.
Stay tuned to eat with us and hang out with Baby Cam!
We dive into a lot of interesting stuff
Like the types of jook my parents ate growing up
And what life was like for them in China
Oooh, with potstickers! What?!
Hey! Hong Doy!
Happy Buddha!
Hong Doy, eat jook!
Soon you'll be able to eat jook
Maybe 6 months. No, not 6 months.
Maybe!
6 months, yeah maybe
Without the meat and stuff
No, just the jook
No, you eat, you can serve
Let me serve
(Laughs)
Step down, Randy
Back off!
You don't know how to serve porridge
This is my house!
Cam Cam, Yeh Yeh made jook for you!
Too slow
Mmm smells good, I like the ginger
Okay, yay!
Cheers!
Are you jealous??
Hi!
You jealous?
No you're just happy!
You have to wait, you're only 3 months
3 months is way too early to eat jook!
How do you feel about the chicken?
It's great, it's a lot of meat
Eat more! More, more, more.
I don't need any, I have enough
This dish, waaht gāi - waaht gāi means
Very, very tender. Very soft. Very, very juicy
Yeah, this is very tender
I think this is the best jook I've had
I think so too
So how'd you guys make it so tender?
You just saw me do it
Cornstarch, water, mix it up and then add oil last
When the jook is cooked, then cook the chicken
Did you eat jook as a kid?
All the time!
Just like this?
We definitely didn't make it with chicken
We'd only eat chicken twice a year
Twice a year?!
Once on the New Year
The second time might be for Mom or Dad's birthday
New Year's and a birthday
That's what I thought. Wow.
On my birthday, I didn't eat chicken
I ate a red egg on my birthday
Red egg, red egg
When we were kids, China was very behind
We were very poor. The economy was not what it is right now.
So if we ate chicken - we had to raise the chicken
So one year, we might be able to raise a few chicken
Then that's the chicken we can get
Let me hold him, you can eat
It's so different from right now. We have a lot right now.
Okay, go to Yeh Yeh
I'm full, you let grandma eat
Yeah, let's let grandma eat, okay?
(Laughs)
Grandma's time to eat!
You're smiling!
Finish the rest of the jook, son
Kat, more jook
How did you eat it when you were kids?
We'd cook it with rice, and maybe salty fish head
Or maybe red beans
Now I remember, yes
haahm yùh
Salty fish head jook!
We didn't have that much pork, chicken, but we had a lot of fish
Because Guangdong - we lived in Guangdong, by the sea
We made the fish become "haahm yùh”, meaning "salty fish"
Salty fish?
Is it cold or hot?
Dried, salty.
Mmm, that sounds good
So we used that for steaming
Sometimes you'd have meat, and we'd make steamed salty fish with pork
(Laughs)
Aiyah!
(Laughs)
Hong Doy!
You want a potsticker?
Hong Doy!
Cam Cam trying to learn, huh?
He wants a potsticker!
(Laughs)
In the old days, we didn't have a refrigerator, washing machine
We didn't have gas to cook
We used - it's called “mùih”
"mùih" means "coal"
We'd buy the coal, come home, turn it into a "cake"
It's called, like a furnace, a stove
It's very small
mùih lòuh, mùih lòuh,
When we burned coal - the black coal, you know?
Everyone who wore white to go out, by the end of the day it'd be black
(Laughs)
The inside of the collar would be all black
Here you can wear a shirt for a week and it'll still be white
Hi baby, are you very lucky?
You grew up with a lot of stuff
You have a refrigerator, washing machine, cool clothes
You have everything, you have a play pen, a bath, a swing
Multiple swings, huh? Multiple chairs! Multiple pack-n-plays!
When we were little, we'd play with sand
(Laughs)
We play with feathers from a chicken
Feathers?
Feathers from a chicken
We’d use our feet - like in the air, then try to catch it
We had nothing to play with
I remember my aunt told me, in the old days,
$20 can buy a lot of things
Hurry up and eat, hurry up and eat! It's getting cold.
(Laughs)
Here, $20 is nothing
You could only buy a pizza
Not even a pizza
Yeah, yeah, yeah - maybe a small pizza
(Laughs)
Less talk
Go to mommy
Hi baby!
Uh oh, uh oh
At the restaurant, did a lot of people ask you to make jook?
At my old restaurant, you could buy it on Saturdays and Sundays
Weekends
Oh, only weekends?
Only on those days would more people want congee
Not everyone wants to eat jook
So, you couldn't get it on Wednesday?
No, we didn't sell jook on Wednesdays
The thing is - the preparation time is long
You cannot just order, and expect it to take a few minutes
You could only order it on weekends, at his restaurant
Let's say the order was chicken congee
You'd scoop the porridge into a wok and boil it
Then add the chicken later, just like we did at home
Shrimp works too, seafood also works
Beef works, beef is cooked the exact same way
Fish?
Fish, you'd just cut it into slices
Fish tastes even better, son
He's happy! Hi, Cam Cam!
He’s a happy boy!
Is restaurant jook as good as what you made?
(Laughs) The jook isn't as beautiful
The soup base isn't as beautiful
What does "jūk dái" mean?
When I'm done cooking the rice, before adding anything else
It's like this - they make big pots
You couldn't possibly sell all of it at once
Maybe on the 2nd or 3rd day
They'd take some out to serve to a customer, but it will be thicker
So they'd need to add water to dilute the jook
Boil it again, dilute the jook
In Cantonese, it's called "jíng hēi"
Then they'd serve that dish
A lot of restaurants aren’t able to cook and serve it right away
If they serve it a lot, then it's different
In Guangzhou, it's not like that
In Guangzhou, they cook it and serve it right away
Jook is very, very popular in Guangzhou
Cantonese people really focus on the quality of the soup base
In Guangzhou, how does the jook compare?
Number one!
(Laughs)
You’ll find so many different types of jook there, I’m telling you.
Are you listening Cam?
Are you learning?
Cam do you understand?
When you're older, you will
When you're older, Yeh Yeh will teach you Toisanese
(Laughs)
We'll speak Toisanese so your dad won’t understand
(Laughs)
Your dad really doesn't understand Toisanese
I have no clue
Grandpa will teach you Toisanese!
Are you going to teach Daddy and me Toisanese?
He said, "No, this is my secret language with Grandma and Grandpa"
It's hard to learn, no way.
Your ears are beautiful!
Hello, dear friends!
Thank you for enjoying our video today!
Our baby Cameron also says, "Thank you!"
"Give us a thumbs up!"
"Subscribe to our channel!"
Bye!