Having lived with my parents my entire life, cooking was something I rarely did. However recent events have left both my parents disabled and unable to cook. As their caretaker, I started to learn how to cook and manage food. I definitely made use of the fish I caught but frying them for every meal wasn’t really tasty after a while.
While my parents can’t cook as of now, they can still give me instructions. So one recipe that I’m sure many of my readers have not tried is fish congee. Coming from an immigrant family really exposes you to different methods of preparing fish.
Why Congee?
For those who are unaware, congee is simply hot rice porridge that is fairly popular in Asian countries. It can be prepared in many different ways with a wide variety of ingredients. I’ve had it with beef, chicken and fermented eggs. However since this is a fishing blog, it will be made from walleye. Though any lean fish like pike, perch or even burbot can be used. I’ve even had freshwater drum congee once and it actually wasn’t that bad.
I started to eat more congee lately as it is easy to prepare, especially for culinarily challenged people like me. It is quite healthy for you as there is no frying or special coatings involved. Due to the soft texture of the congee, it is an excellent meal for those who are sick and have trouble digesting solid food.
Ingredients
This makes approximately 4-5 bowls which is perfect for a family.
- 4 fillets of walleye
- 2 cups of rice
- A small piece of ginger
- Green onions
- Soy sauce
- Salt
- Fried dough bread sticks (optional)
These are generally simple ingredients to obtain if you’re a reasonably good walleye angler.
Boiling the Rice
Pour water into a large pot until approximately half full. Add rice to the water. Then turn the stove on for low heat and cover the pot. Now all you have to do is wait approximately 2 to 3 hours. Check periodically if the porridge is thick enough for you. Some people like it watery, though I personally like it thick. Add more water or wait longer to achieve the desired thickness.
There are some advanced pressure cookers have a congee setting that basically do all the work for you. It’s not necessary as with some trial and error, you will figure out how to make it as thick as needed.
Since there is a lot of waiting, it’s time to prepare the other ingredients.
Prepping the Ingredients
Start by dicing the the ginger and green onions into very small pieces. Keep them separate for now.
Take your walleye fillets and dice them into small pieces. Once all fillets are diced, put them into a bowl. Add the ginger into the bowl. Pour some soy sauce over all the walleye fillets and stir to ensure that all the pieces have some soy sauce on them. Marinate for around 20 minutes so that the soy sauce is absorbed.
Combining Ingredients with Congee
At this point your congee should have the desired thickness.
Add your mixture of fish, ginger and soy sauce to the congee. Then add your green onions. Start stirring immediately. The fish will cook in about ten seconds. While stirring add some salt. (The amount of salt is all up to personal preference.) That’s all there is to it.
Distribute the congee into bowls. If you chose to obtain fried dough, you can cut them up into chunks. Add a few pieces of dough to each bowl.
Final Words
Definitely congee will never be the tastiest method of preparing fish. It is among the healthiest and easiest methods though. As anglers, we should always be open minded about trying different ways to eat fish.
This is a very simple recipe though if you are feeling adventurous you can use almost anything in it. If you have any alternative methods of preparing congee, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
