Friday, February 20, 2009

Jook = Comfort


Jook or Congee is a porridge type dish made of millet or rice. You can read all about it on Wikipedia. Click here. It is an extremely variable dish. You can make it sweet or savory. I went for the sweet, hoping the kids would help me eat it. (They didn't).

The thing I like most about jook, is that it warms your very soul. On a day like today, in NY, that's a very good thing. It's very filling as well.

You can find a recipe similar to mine all over the internet. I added brown sugar and vanilla bean to make it more palatable for the kids. I really liked it.

Sweet Potato Jook

1 sweet potato, diced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup millet
6 cups water
1 vanilla bean scraped
1 cinnamon stick
1 1' piece of ginger
pinch of salt

In a large sauce pan add millet, water, cinnamon stick, vanilla pod and ginger. Cook for about 30 minutes and add sweet potato. Cook until mixture becomes thick like porridge. Add brown sugar. Remove cinnamon stick. Spoon into bowls.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, this is the first I've heard of this! Thanks for teaching me :)

Sara said...

I've heard of jook but have never eaten it before. This looks really good, I'll have to try it.

Screamin' Mama said...

I've eaten jook ever since I was little but I've never had a sweet version like yours. I will definitely try this. I love sweet potato! My kids' favourite is corn and chicken jook.

kat said...

I used to love to eat at a place in San Francisco that served Jook but I never ordered it.

Pam said...

I am literally drooling right now. This is my kind of comfort food! It looks really delicious.

grace said...

jook? what a fun word, and what a delicious-looking dish! thanks for the intro, lori. :)