Brown Rice and Gai Lan Jook (Rice Porridge) Recipe
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This thicker, vegetarian take on traditional Chinese rice porridge is just as comforting and simple to make. The brown rice gives the jook a hearty, nutty flavor, and stirring in gai lan at the end adds some texture and sweetness to this light, healthy dish.
What to buy: Gai lan, also known as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale, is a dark green leafy vegetable with stems that are crisp and slightly sweet. If you can’t find gai lan, substitute broccolini.
Game plan: Feel free to add more garnishes like soy sauce, fried shallots, or roasted salted peanuts to spice up this dish. And if you want to include some protein, roasted tofu makes a good addition; you could also swirl in a beaten egg as the porridge cooks.
INGREDIENTS
- 8 cups water
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 cup long-grain brown rice
- 1 (1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, skin on and sliced into 2 pieces
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- Pinch freshly ground white pepper, plus more as needed
- 4 ounces gai lan (also known as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale), ends trimmed and very thinly sliced crosswise
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place all ingredients except the gai lan in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, uncovered, at a lively simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice has completely broken down and the mixture is creamy, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Turn off the heat, add the gai lan, and stir until combined and the leaves are wilted. Let sit until the residual heat cooks the gai lan stems to crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed.
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SEG, I am guessing that the brown rice version is to add more fiber and rice bran. It's much healthier than white rice (which a lot of people try to avoid). To get a creamier, soupier consistency, just add more water or broth.
sillyeatinggirl, I made this recipe over the weekend and cooked the rice in a covered pot (which turns out was incorrect, at least for this recipe--we've updated step 1 above) and it came out more soupy, less risotto-y. So maybe give that a shot, using a lid on the pot.
Deborah from CHOW
why wouldn't you use a short grain rice? more starch, more creaminess. The picture looks much more like risotto than jook too. Though that maybe a personal bias of mine since I like my jook more soupy. Looks and sounds good though!