Instant Pot mushroom congee, anyone tried the 1:8 ratio?

[Thomas Martinez]

Found a mushroom congee recipe for an Instant Pot but wanted to see if anyone here have played around with the rice to water ratio. The recipe say to use 1 cup of white rice rinsed until the water run clear and then use a 1:8 ratio of rice to water. That means 8 cup of water and 1 cup of rice. Add mushrooms, carrots and salt to the pot with the rice and liquid. Cover the lid of the pot and set the valve to sealing. Place the pot into the Instant Pot and cook for 35 minutes on high pressure with a natural release.
The ratio of water to rice is much higher than many of the congee recipes I have seen online. Some people uses ratios of 1:6 for thinner congee and 1:10 for recipes that are more loosely than others. 1:8 is the middle ground between those two ratios. 35 minutes may seem like alot of time to cook white rice, but that is the purpose of congee, to cook the rice until it break down into a porridge. If you quick release the pressure in the pot, the liquid will spit out of the valve when the pot is released from the Instant Pot, thus the NPR is for safety as well. Have either dried shiitake mushrooms or fresh mushrooms, will the dried shiitake mushrooms change the water to dry ratio? If you make this recipe, have you found that the 1:8 ratio of water to rice works out for you and you're rice?

 

[Fut]

1:8 is standard for medium consistency congee. Cook 1:7 if you want it thicker for breakfast and 1:9 if you are using the congee as a base of a soup. 35 minutes is fine for congee... 30 minutes would work too since high pressure will break down the rice by 30 minutes.

 

[Mist]

Dried shiitake mushrooms will absolutely soak up the water, soak them separately in a bowl and add the soaking water to the congee pot as well. This will add more flavor to the congee. If you add dried shiitake mushrooms to the congee at the same time as the rice and vegetables at a 1:8 ratio, the amount of water that the dried shiitake mushrooms absorbs may end up making the 1:8 ratio closer to 1:7.

 

[Distinct Dugon]

wait does the rinsing actualy matter that much for congee though? like you're going to break down the rice so why not just make sure it dont contribute to the starch content of the congee?

 

[Happy Va]

Instant Pots is a fad anyway. Stovetop congee for 90 minutes in a heavy pot is the only way to prepare congee that tastes right. There’s a noticeable difference between stovetop and Instant Pot congee.

 

[Fut]

Instant Pots is a fad anyway. Stovetop congee for 90 minutes in a heavy pot is the only way to prepare congee that tastes right. There’s a noticeable difference between stovetop and Instant Pot congee.

hard disagree. Try to blind taste test the congee prepared in an Instant Pot and on the stove alone and tell me which is which. You cant differentiate them because its just rice and water broken down into congee. There is no “magic” compound that develop when congee simmers at atmospheric pressure in a pot on the stove.

 

[Distinct Dugon]

Instant Pots is a fad anyway. Stovetop congee for 90 minutes in a heavy pot is the only way to prepare congee that tastes right. There’s a noticeable difference between stovetop and Instant Pot congee.

what are you tasting on the stove that differs from the Instant Pot congee? is it the Maillard compounds from the bottom of the pot?

 

[Aero Sumo Fortress]

ran this exact recipe last month; 1 cup of jasmine rice, 8 cups of water, a handful of dried shiitakes (not rehydrated), a couple carrots, salt to taste, set to 35 minutes of high pressure and NPR. The result was perfect, the texture spoonable to the consistency described in this blog post. The NPR was definitely doing double duty for safety because at the 20 minute mark during the release I could see starchy residue building up in the valve area of the pot. If I had quick released the lid on that pot my ceiling would of wearing it. I add ginger slices and a splash of shaoxing rice wine to the pot before adding ingredients after cooking. I add scallions and white pepper after the rice has been released from the pot. Do not skip the white pepper, its the whole game.

 

[European Met]

its also possible that the thickening properties of congee has alot to do with how long it sits in the pot after it’s released. Mine develops a thickness in the pot while its releasing.