The next best thing after Thanksgiving, besides Black Friday sales, is Thanksgiving leftovers, especially turkey rice congee!  Growing up in South Africa, I never celebrated Thanksgiving.  My first Thanksgiving was spent with my high-school roommate.  All I recall is watching the Macy's day parade over and over again while the smell of turkey and pie wafted through the house, just torturing my roommate and I since we weren't allowed to snack and "spoil our appetites".   The thanksgiving feast was the only meal of the day and it was a late lunch!

Many people I know don't like turkey and always substitute turkey for another kind of poultry.  I used to feel the same way, because my memory of turkey dinners were dry pieces of meat that needed to be drenched in gravy.

A few years ago, I started brining by turkey which was a game changer.  Not only is the turkey moist, the meat is flavorful.  Now, my family looks forward to Thanksgiving and the days after.  It's now a tradition to use the turkey carcass, neck and giblets for stock that then becomes turkey rice congee for the next few days.

Rice congee or jook is a Chinese staple.  My grandmother used to make it for us when anyone was sick. It was a hearty soup when the weather got cold, a definite comfort food. It was the equivalent of chicken soup for the soul!  You can make it with any protein...fish, pork, egg, chicken and even turkey!

Tips for making jook

It is preferable to use a non-glutinous rice.  Making congee with glutinous rice has a more "sticky" texture.  Over the years , I have discovered a few tricks to speed up the process in order to break down the rice to a porridge

Use broken rice.

Broken rice is now sold in Asian grocery stores.  The smaller grains make it faster to achieve the congee consistency.  If you cannot buy broken rice, put your dry rice grains in a hand blender and briefly pulse it to break it.  Do not blend it too long as it will become a powder and that is not what you want.

Pre-soak rice.

Presoak your rice overnight in salted water so that it fully absorbs the liquid.

Use a pressure cooker.

Using a pressure cooker is an easy and quick way to make congee.  The pressure helps break down the rice quickly.

Use an immersion blender

An immersion blender helps break down the rice into a congee consistency without having to boil it for a long period.  If you plan to use an immersion blender, make sure you blend the rice stock first, before adding your other larger ingredients like the shitake mushrooms and dried scallops. 

Additions.

Protein

When cooking the congee, make the basic rice congee first without adding the protein.  The protein pieces should only be added towards the end to not only keep the flavor in the tasty protein morsels, but also to keep them tender.

When using cooked meat like rotisserie chicken or roast turkey, shred the meat to bite size pieces.  If the meat requires additional flavor, mix it with a little soy sauce and sesame oil.

Toppings

I like offering different kinds of toppings to add.  These toppings usually provide a different texture and mouth-feel.  Some of the toppings that can be served are:

Scallion / Cillantro
Roasted peanuts
Potato chips
Crispy fried shallots / onions
Lettuce strips
Preserved crunchy vegetables
Fried dough sticks 油條/油炸鬼

Stock.

I do not like adding MSG (monosodium glutamate) to my dishes.  The natural flavor comes from the stock.  As a result, the congee will not look white as you see in restaurants, but rather the color of the stock.

See Home-made chicken stock.  When making turkey broth from your leftover Thanksgiving turkey, remove as much meat from the carcass.  Use all the bones, neck including the giblets to make the stock.  The amount of saltiness will depend on whether the turkey was brined or not. Once the stock has been made, strain the stove through a sieve to remove herbs, vegetables etc.

Thickening and richness.

I like adding an egg to my congee.  This not only adds extra protein and makes it thicker, but adds a richness to the congee.  Adding egg to soups is not as easy as it sounds.  How and when you add the egg will result in different egg textures.  If you add your egg without whisking it prior to adding it to the soup, you will see long strands of yellow and white.  If you add whisked egg when the soup is not hot enough, it will "disappear".  If you add the egg when the soup is boiling, the egg will immediately cook and be hard.  Adding the egg at just the right temperature results in soft, wispy egg distributed evenly throughout the soup.

Enjoy!