Congee with Miso Baked Chicken, Soft Poached Eggs and Noosa Chili Oil

The Season has changed and we are looking for warm nourishing comfort food! Congee has been the a staple comfort food for thousands of years in Asia but often gets a bad name for being bland. Not here! 
Sara Dillon from Tuckshop Catering has been  nourishing the Sunshine Coast with her cooking since 2012 and kindly shared this winter recipe with us in her cute 1940s cottage - The Cook's Borough in Cooroy
This recipe is perfect any time of the day. We enjoyed it in the winter sun for brunch but it would work just as well for a midweek dinner.

Ingredients:

Congee 

• 200g Sushi or arborio Rice 
• 1.3 liters Nourishing Wholefoods chicken broth *replace with vegetable broth for vegetarian
• 100g ginger - peeled and sliced
• 80g lemon rinds
• 2 teaspoons salt
  

Chicken:

• 1 kg of Chicken thigh skin on (bone in or out suitable)
• 2 tbls Fermentsation Sunshine Miso paste

*Or replace chicken with mixed dried forest mushrooms rehydrated in hot water and fried in a little chili oil for the vegetarian version.

Sauce:

• ¼ cup kecup manis
• ¼ cup Fermenstation Noosa chili oil
• ¼ cup Tamari

To finish:

• Microgreens
• Sliced spring onion 
• Soft poached eggs optional
  

Method:

Add congee ingredients in a large heavy based saucepan and simmer on low heat for 1.5 hours. Stirring occasionally so as not to let rice stick to the bottom of the pan. Until a thick porridge-like consistency is reached or desired consistency while stirring often .

Preheat oven to 160°
Line a tray with baking paper. Roll chicken into little parcels and place on the tray. Baste with Fermenstation Sunshine Miso. 

Add 1 cup of water to the pan and bake for 45 min or until golden and crispy.

Combine sauce ingredients and set aside

Plate congee with miso baked chicken or mushrooms and finish with sauce, sliced spring onion and microgreens and a soft poached egg