Chicken Congee With Turmeric and Cumin Recipe (2024)

I don't often review recipes but I just want to chime in here to say I found this to be a bit of a dud. This dish was fussy (though I did get it made in an hour) and the parts to me did not make for a harmonious whole. The congee itself was rather bland. The hot sauce with peppers tasted mostly of the Crystal, which overwhelmed the red peppers. The yogurt sauce was too heavy on the mayo and added a strange note to the whole thing. Not terrible but I'd just make a traditional congee next time.

Also - there is no way the chicken pictured is thigh meat - chicken breasts for certain.

Made this today-delicious, easy, and pretty. Don’t be like me and question the amount of spices in the chicken mixture/paste. I thinned it with lemon and olive oil-wished I hadn’t as the crust it forms on the chicken is the best part. The flavor of the yogurt sauce was a bit weird and didn’t chime in quite right for me. Next time I will just make a lemony garlicky yogurt. Both my picky young kids loved it which is very confusing bc they don’t eat anything, even Mac and Cheese. Congee, who knew?

Made this today and my whole family loved it. When I was making it I thought this is a great immune boosting dish, so I added a good dose of slivered ginger to the rice toward the end to give it even more immune boosters. The chicken with all the spice flavored the whole dish really well. I cut the hot sauce in half and found the red sauce just spicy enough.

Just an FYI, it’s not halal chicken unless the meat is butchered according to Islamic standards. Halal isn’t a seasoning, it’s similar to Judaism’s Kosher meat requirements.

Hi, the cultures referenced above have met before, and they do not call this dish congee.For faster rice porridge, a trick my mom taught me is to freeze the washed and drained rice. The freeze-thaw action gives the grain breakdown in the pot a head start.

Why not replace the 1.5 teaspoon of cumin and 1.5 teaspoon of tumeric with 3 teaspoons (or 1 Tablespoon....) of curry powder?

Hi Judy! The chicken pictured is indeed thigh meat — I just confirmed with our food stylist. (There are a few telltale signs to differentiate chicken breasts from thighs upon sight — here, you'll notice the sliced thighs are less thick than breasts typically are, as breasts are typically more than twice the thickness of boneless, skinless thighs. Also the tips of each slice are slightly uneven, since chicken thighs typically are less uniform in their thickness than chicken breasts are.)

The texture will be odd if you cook it for anything less than 2 hours. Congee in restaurants is cooked for at least 3 hours and then held at temperature till service.

I don’t normally leave notes but don’t expect this to take an hour. I will bake the chicken first and finish it in cast iron next time.

My family and I love this dish! It’s one of the few regular dishes I make. We make it w chicken breast to make it a little healthier. I marinate the chicken breast in olive oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon for a couple of hours beforehand, dump the marinade and then proceed w the recipe. it comes out super tender. I don’t understand the complaints about the congee being bland, by nature that’s how it usually is. The flavor comes from the chicken and the sauces which are great imo.

Has anyone tried doing the congee in a pressure cooker? If so, how'd it work and how long to cook?

Hi, the cultures referenced above have met before, and they do not call this dish congee.For faster rice porridge, a trick my mom taught me is to freeze the washed and drained rice. The freeze-thaw action gives the grain breakdown in the pot a head start.

Just an FYI, it’s not halal chicken unless the meat is butchered according to Islamic standards. Halal isn’t a seasoning, it’s similar to Judaism’s Kosher meat requirements.

This is also yummy with turkey! As a new home cook, I found this easy to execute.

I made a pared-down version omitting the yogurt sauce and using an excellent harissa with preserved lemon from New York Shuk. I wasn't especially excited by the congee but changed my mind when I added the chicken. The spice mix (I used coriander instead of cardamom) did produce a nice crust, and that savory chicken makes the dish. I made the congee so thick you could eat it with a fork, almost like risotto. The whole thing came out delicious.

If I made this again, I’d adjust the seasoning quite a bit. I used chicken breast and it was way too much seasoning. I felt like it needed some vinegar or citrus to brighten it up and I’d want more veggies.

The chicken that goes with this may be the best chicken I've ever had. I used very coarsely ground cumin (it was practically whole) and toasted it lightly in a pan first. I used a small skillet, and the crust on the chicken got better and better with every batch. Will be using this chicken for tacos too as well as anything else I can come up with.

The texture will be odd if you cook it for anything less than 2 hours. Congee in restaurants is cooked for at least 3 hours and then held at temperature till service.

Good. Not great. Made exactly as written. The halal chicken was good albeit gritty. The taste was good but the congee was a bland. I ended up sauteing some fresh spinach in the skillet used for the chicken and seasoned the rice with sea kelp flakes and black pepper. As per other notes I drastically reduced the mayo in the yogurt sauce and added a tad more zatar. That was great with the chicken. To do again I would wilt down more spinach for the bed and loose the congee.

Agree that it was kind of a disappointment. The congee itself was extremely bland and I felt there was way too much rub for the chicken. There was no "tossing" it - I had to physically rub it on and discarded a lot of it. My fingertips are still yellow almost a week later! So many different components involved in what initially seemed like a simple dish.

Why not replace the 1.5 teaspoon of cumin and 1.5 teaspoon of tumeric with 3 teaspoons (or 1 Tablespoon....) of curry powder?

Made this today-delicious, easy, and pretty. Don’t be like me and question the amount of spices in the chicken mixture/paste. I thinned it with lemon and olive oil-wished I hadn’t as the crust it forms on the chicken is the best part. The flavor of the yogurt sauce was a bit weird and didn’t chime in quite right for me. Next time I will just make a lemony garlicky yogurt. Both my picky young kids loved it which is very confusing bc they don’t eat anything, even Mac and Cheese. Congee, who knew?

I don't often review recipes but I just want to chime in here to say I found this to be a bit of a dud. This dish was fussy (though I did get it made in an hour) and the parts to me did not make for a harmonious whole. The congee itself was rather bland. The hot sauce with peppers tasted mostly of the Crystal, which overwhelmed the red peppers. The yogurt sauce was too heavy on the mayo and added a strange note to the whole thing. Not terrible but I'd just make a traditional congee next time.