Leftovers Chicken Congee

Leftovers Chicken Congee

• July 04, 2022

For the fourth recipe in my blog series "Chinese Food on a Budget: Feed a Family of 4 for £30 a week", I am using the final leftover bones and meat to make this leftovers chicken congee. 

The chicken that cost under £5 has stretched enough to make 3 family meals!

The carcass and bits of meat can easily be boiled into a stock, strained and then be used to make congee, or if you want to do it the easy way like I've done here, add the carcass directly to rice and water. You will need to pick out the bones though once the congee is cooked.

If the Summer heat in UK right now means you don't fancy congee, you can also try Chinese Poached Chicken Noodle In Soup. 

I wanted to bulk out this meal with extra protein, so eggs have been added too. They are easy on the wallet and add that much needed protein to a meal when you're making the most of leftovers. 

The Chinese preserved vegetables used as sides were not included in the budget of this challenge as I already had these in the cupboard and I used them to supplement this meal. Depending on your budget, you can absolutely leave this out. 

The half pack of kale leftover from the Stir Fried Chicken Noodles will be used as another side dish. 

Gather your ingredients. 

Wash the rice and then drain. Add salt and oil to the rice and gently rub it into the rice to 'marinade' it. Put rice in the rice cooker/large saucepan and add 4 cups of water. Add the chicken carcass into the rice and water, and cook using a rice cooker on the congee setting or on the stove.

Add water to a saucepan and soft boil the eggs. Crack the soft boiled egg into a bowl and add in 1/2 teaspoon soya sauce mixed with 1 teaspoon of water. 

Condiments make or break congee, and these are some of my favourites. Left to right, clockwise: Maggi seasoning liquid, white pepper, spicy fermented beancurd and 2 types of preserved vegetables. 

A comfy and heartwarming meal of congee with all the best garnishes.

Ingredients:

1 chicken carcass

1 cup of rice (rice cooker cup measurement)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp oil

4 cups water

1 bunch of spring onions

Chinese preserved vegetables (optional)

White Pepper to serve

Soya sauce to serve

For the vegetable side:

1/2 bag of kale

1 tsp oil

1 tsp soya sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

For the eggs side:

4 eggs

2 tsp soya sauce

4 tsp water

Directions:
1) Wash the rice and then drain. Add salt and oil to the rice and gently rub it into the rice to 'marinade' it. Put rice in the rice cooker/large saucepan and add 4 cups of water

2) Add the chicken carcass into the rice and water. If using the rice cooker, cook on the congee setting for 2 hours and stir the congee after each hour. If using a saucepan, bring the whole pan of rice, water, chicken to a boil and then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 hours. Stir the congee every 15 minutes to ensure rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning

3) For the kale, wash and then dry as much as possible. Add oil to a pan and fry the kale for 5 minutes. Add in soya sauce and oyster sauce, mix well and plate up

4) For the eggs, add water to a saucepan and soft boil the eggs. Crack the soft boiled egg into a bowl and add in 1/2 teaspoon soya sauce mixed with 1 teaspoon of water 

5) Add preserved vegetables into a bowl to serve as a side

6) Wash and then chop spring onion, add into a bowl 

7) Once the congee is cooked, you can add extra boiling water to loosen up if it is too thick. Remove all the big bones from the congee as much as possible, and serve with all the sides, white pepper and spring onion

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