Crayfish Congee

One of my all time favourite breakfasts is congee! I don’t know if its my distant Chinese heritage that steers me to ‘unconventional’ foods but I don’t question it.
Congee is essentially a Chinese rice porridge. Stock as the base then customisable to your hearts desire.

This recipe uses the head of the crayfish to make a rich, oceany stock and infuses that into rice, topped with garnishes galore and big chunks of crayfish.

Here’s what you’ll need -

Crayfish head (Body optional)
1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
2tbsp Sesame oil
3 stems of spring onion
Knob of ginger
Chilli
Handful of mushrooms (Chopped)
1 Cup of rice - I used medium grain for this recipe

Garnishes!
Fried shallots
Chilli oil
Sesame Seeds
Spring onions - chopped
(Whatever other Chinese garnishes/sauces you like)

Here’s how -

Roast your crayfish heads - Oven, open flame, grill, on the coals. All fine. Roast them until they’re… well. Roasted.

Into a pot, put your roasted crayfish head, cooking wine, soy, sesame oil, spring onion, ginger, and mushrooms. Top with 4 cups of water and bring to the boil - Let it go for at least half an hour.

Strain your stock then add your rice - Cook over a low to medium temperature for 45 minutes, stirring aggressively occasionally. If necessary, you can add a little more water.
Once cooked, your congee should be the consistency of a wet porridge.

If you’ve got the body of a cray, dice the cooked meat and stir through the congee.

Top with fried onions, spring onions, sesame seeds, chilli oil and whatever other garnishes you wish. Up to you!

Enjoy!