Scope
In its humblest form, rice is made into a gruel or porridge called Congee (also called kanji, ganji,pez, ambil). Valued for the nutritional strength of the starch in this porridge where the rice isboiled to a soft consistency, the congee is the staple food in the poorest homes of India.Leftover rice soaked in water from a previous night and served as breakfast is much sought after in all parts of South India because of its high nutritional value. Its popularity is such that,there are restaurants that serve it as breakfast to office goers. Because of its high nutritionalvalue and easy digestibility, congee is prescribed as diet food for recuperating patients at home.Congee is also prepared using wheat grits (daliya), foxtail millet, pearl millet (ragi), brokenmaize, sago, etc.
Method
To prepare the dish, rice is boiled in a large quantity of water until it softens significantly. Congee can be made in a pot or in a rice cooker. Some rice cookers have a “congee”; setting, allowing it to be cooked overnight. The type of rice used can be either short (or broken) – or long-grain, depending on what is available and regional cultural influences.Congee is bland and therefore its flavor is enhanced with salt, papadam or such varieties of crispies, pickle, chutney, vegetables, pure ghee, etc. In some regions of South India, sweet variations of the congee using jaggery, coconut, unprocessed candy sugar, buttermilk, milk, etc. are also made.
Ingredients
The essential ingredients for congee are only two – soaked rice and, 3-4 times its quantity of water.
Suitable for eka putargal (who eat once a day) and those having indigestion issues.
Small Rice – 1 padi
Clean Water – 2 padis + 1 padi
Method:
1. Soak 1 padi of small rice in 1 padi of water for about 24 minutes, mix well and drain the water.
2. Take 2 padis of clean water in a pot which can hold 4 padis of water.
3. Boil water. When the water starts to boil, add the drained rice.
4. Stir the rice well with the boiling water. Cover the pot with a lid.
5. Few minutes later, once the rice and water starts boiling, stir well again and cover.
6. Check if the rice is ¾th cooked as mentioned above and mix well again, turn off the stove.
7. Leave it on the off stove (warm) for 5 minutes and keep aside.
Hindu Compliance Body
The Hindu compliance body was established under the executive order of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, dated August 14, 2020, order number 10010, under the title Reviving the Hindu Compliance System and Body
to create, promote, spread and teach the standard procedures for all products and services that are in compliance Hindu Shastras.
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