Name: Shrimp Congee from Raya and The Last Dragon
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 3
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 4.5 cup water; 0.5 cup Jasmine Rice; 2 tsp Flat Fillets Anchovies; 2 tsp Fish Sauce; 0.5 tsp Sesame Oil; 0.25 tsp Table Salt; 0.3 oz (8 grams), about 12 slices Fresh Ginger; 1 stalk of Green Onion; 0.5 pounds (226 grams) Shrimp

I was inspired by the character Boun in Raya and the Last Dragon to make shrimp congee. Adding shrimp is not typical for congee, but it’s delicious and gives the dish a nice bite.

Congee is a thick rice soup, wherfe the rice is a canvas, a blank slate, and the colors and flavors come from the other ingredients. Chicken or vegetable broth is used along with different types of meat. To prevent the meat from overcooking and becoming tough, it is added at the end of cooking. However, if shrimp shells or bones are available, this is added at the beginning of cooking and can be removed before adding other ingredients or before serving.

Ingredients for the soup base

The ingredients for the soup base are rice, anchovies, fish sauce, salt, sesame oil, and fresh ginger. You can substitute fresh ginger with powdered ginger. Use less powdered ginger to start and add more if necessary towards the end of cooking.

Use jasmine rice if available. Other types of rice can be used, but the consistency may be slightly different. You can start with less water and add more water throughout the 45 minutes of cooking to prevent it from being too watery. I had this issue when using medium-grained rice. Alternatively, if it is still too watery after 45 minutes, continue cooking until the desired consistency.

I prefer to use anchovy fillets over dried anchovies as the fillets melt into the soup and give more umami flavor than dried anchovies. There will be no bits of anchovies. They’re great to put in sauces and soups. Purchase these at your local supermarket or on Amazon.

For the fish sauce, I use the Three Crabs Brand. You can find this at any Asian Grocery store or on Amazon. If you are new to fish sauce, a 24 fluid oz bottle may be too much as most recipes call for a few teaspoons at a time. Red Boat has an 8 fluid oz bottle that comes highly recommended by America’s Test Kitchen and other review sites. Please note that it may be cheaper at the store.

Making the Shrimp Broth

If the shrimp have shells on them, peel the shells off and use them for a stock. This will add more shrimp flavor to the dish. Bring water and the shrimp shells to a boil.

Once the water comes to a boil, the shrimp shells are orange and can be removed.

Add Soup Base Ingredients and Cover

After adding the soup base ingredients, use chopsticks to elevate the lid. This prevents our congee from boiling over and keeps the heat in while letting the steam escape. This gives the congee a thick consistency on low heat with no prevent burning.

Alternatively, you can use a wooden spatula for the same effect.

Stir once every 15 minutes.

Add the Shrimp

This is the consistency we want before adding the shrimp.

If it is too watery after 40-45 minutes, continue simmering until the right consistency is achieved. Do not cook the shrimp until the consistency is correct to prevent the shrimp from becoming tough and rubbery. Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes and remove the pot from heat.

Garnish With Green Onion

Sprinkle Green Onion on top and serve immediately.