Fanshu Zhou (Chinese Sweet Potato Congee)
A savory Chinese and Taiwanese sweet potato rice congee eaten for breakfast. The sweet potato goes in twice so the porridge has both creamy body and tender orange cubes.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
For the Congee
- 1 cup short or medium grain white rice jasmine also works
- 8 cups water or 6 cups water plus 2 cups unsalted chicken stock
- 1 pound sweet potato about 1 large, peeled and cut into ¾ inch cubes, divided into two equal piles
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- 2 thin slices fresh ginger optional, removed before serving
Savory Toppings
- 4 fried eggs one per bowl, yolks left runny
- soy sauce for drizzling at the table
- ½ cup pickled mustard greens or another sharp pickle, chopped
- ¼ cup pork floss (rousong) optional
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil a few drops per bowl
Instructions
Rinse and Soak
- Put the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water, swirl with your hand and pour off the cloudy water. Repeat three or four times until the water runs nearly clear.
- Cover the rinsed rice with fresh cold water and soak for 30 minutes, then drain.
Cook the Congee
- Add the drained rice to a heavy pot with 8 cups of water, the ginger slices if using, and HALF the sweet potato cubes. Bring to a full boil.
- Reduce the heat to low so the pot holds a lazy simmer and set the lid on slightly ajar. Cook for 35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes with a flat edged wooden spoon and reaching into the corner where the side meets the bottom so nothing scorches.
- Stir in the remaining sweet potato cubes and cook uncovered for another 15 minutes, until they are tender enough to cut with a spoon but still holding their edges.
Season and Serve
- Remove the ginger slices. Stir in 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, taste, and add more if needed. Congee concentrates as it cooks, so season at the end rather than the beginning.
- Take the pot off the heat and rest for 5 minutes. The congee thickens as it settles, so it should look slightly loose in the pot.
- Ladle into bowls and top each one with a fried egg, a drizzle of soy sauce, chopped pickled mustard greens, pork floss, sliced scallions and a few drops of sesame oil.
Notes
- The split sweet potato: half at the start dissolves and gives the porridge its body and color, half added in the last 15 minutes stays in visible cubes. Adding it all at once gives a uniform orange paste.
- Stir on a schedule: every 10 minutes, into the corners of the pot. Scorching is the most common failure and it ruins the whole batch.
- Leftover rice shortcut: use 3 cups cooked rice with 6 cups water and simmer 25 minutes.
- Millet version: swap in ¾ cup millet, use 6 cups water, cook about 30 minutes for the northern Chinese xiaomi hongshu zhou.
- Sweet version: add 6 slit dried red dates with the rice and finish with rock sugar to taste instead of salt.
- Reheating: it sets solid in the fridge. Add ¼ to ½ cup water or stock per serving and warm gently, breaking it up with a spoon.