Whether you call it millet porridge or millet congee, this homey dish with chicken, shiitake mushrooms, and ginger is tasty and hearty (but not heavy!) We finish with green onions and white pepper for extra flavor. It's easy to prepare and flexible, a true one-pot meal that will satisfy the whole family.
You remember our recipe for Millet Porridge / Congee? That's a classic, it's a good foundation recipe for cooking millet.
Today's recipe starts with a similar base, but adds chicken, mushrooms, and ginger to make it a complete meal. We love serving this for easy weekday lunches at home. It's nourishing and a "feel good" type of dish.
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Ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are very straightforward. Many of the ingredients also appear in a lot of other recipes on this blog, so feel free to stock up!
Here's what you'll need:
- Millet
- Water
- Shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in water overnight
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Ginger, minced
- Green onions, chopped
- Salt
- White pepper
See recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities.
Instructions
Let's get cooking!
Clean millet.
Place the millet in a large bowl and rinse with water 2-3 times (until the water runs almost clear). Drain the water and set it aside.
Slice shiitake mushrooms.
Remove the shiitake mushrooms from the water which it was rehydrated in (save the water!) and thinly slice the mushrooms. Set aside.
Slice chicken.
Thinly slice the chicken and set aside.
Combine and boil water.
Combine the 4 cups of water with the reserved mushroom water (strain the mushroom water to remove any impurities) and pour into a pot. Bring the water to a boil. Once boiled, add the millet.
Add other ingredients to the pot.
Bring it back up to a boil and then add the mushrooms, chicken thighs, and ginger. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pot, and let cook for 30 minutes.
Stir and cook.
Stir the pot every 5-10 minutes to make sure the millet doesn’t get stuck to the bottom of the pot, and to help make everything cook evenly. Skim any foam that rises to the top.
Season and serve.
Once the porridge / congee is done cooking, season with salt and white pepper. Then spoon into individual bowls and top with green onions. Eat and enjoy ^_^
Hint: If you didn't have time (or forgot) to rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms in water overnight, you can do a "fast" version by placing the mushrooms in a heatproof bowl and then filling the bowl with hot water. Place a lid on the bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.
Substitutions
This is a flexible recipe. There are many substitutions you can make:
- Replace the chicken with thinly sliced pork. Pork is a great in porridge / congee type dishes (like our Congee with Century Egg and Pork).
- Use a mix of mushrooms to make a mixed mushroom millet porridge.
- Skip the meat entirely and add more mushrooms. This is a good option if you want to make it a vegetarian dish.
Variations
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Spicy - Finish the dish with a drizzle of chili oil (that's what we did in the photos for this recipe).
- Garlic or Shallots - Sprinkle fried garlic chips or fried shallots on top.
- Soy sauce and sesame - Add a light drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil to each individual bowl.
There are so many variations you could do with this dish. Let us know if you have other ideas!
Equipment
All you need is one medium size pot for this recipe. That's about as easy as it gets ^_^
Storage
The porridge / congee leftovers will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat in the microwave or the stovetop, whichever is easiest for you.
Top tip
Stir the pot every 5-10 minutes. This is both to make sure that the millet doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot and that all the ingredients cook evenly.
FAQ
Millet is a whole grain and very nutritious. They are tiny golden kernels (that look a little like quinoa) and have a sweet nutty taste.
There are many types of millet, and we use use foxtail millet for cooking at home.
We often cook with millet when we want to switch it up from the usual rice porridge / congee.
This dish can be a complete meal on it's own, but it's nice to have extra side dishes. A few great side dishes to pair with this recipe: Hot Sesame Oil Tofu, Pan Fried Tofu (With Garlic Soy Sauce), and Shoyu Hot Dogs.
Try our Millet Porridge / Congee! It's a super simple recipe made with just millet, water, and kabocha. The kabocha is optional but delicious. You can also replace the kabocha with another type of squash, use pumpkin, or sweet potato.
Millet Porridge with Chicken and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- ½ cup millet
- 4 cups water
- 6 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated overnight in 2 cups of water
- 2 pieces boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 ½-inch knob ginger, minced
- 3 stalks green onions, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
- Place the millet in a large bowl and rinse with water 2-3 times (until the water runs almost clear). Drain the water and set it aside.
- Remove the shiitake mushrooms from the water which it was rehydrated in (save the mushroom soaking water for Step 4) and thinly slice the mushrooms. Set aside.
- Thinly slice the chicken thighs and set aside.
- Combine the 4 cups of water with the 2 cups of reserved mushroom water (strain the mushroom water to remove any impurities) and pour into a pot. Bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiled, add the millet.
- Bring it back up to a boil and then add the mushrooms, chicken thighs, and ginger. Turn the heat down to low and cover the pot. Cook for 30 minutes.
- Stir the pot every 5-10 minutes to make sure the millet stick to the bottom of the pot, and to help make everything cook evenly. Skim any foam that rises to the top.
- Once the porridge / congee is done cooking, season with salt and white pepper. Then spoon into individual bowls and top with green onions. Eat and enjoy ^_^
Nutrition
Related
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I have never had millet congee; in fact I don't believe I ever had millet at all. LOL! But it looks delicious. In my younger days growing up as a kid, I used to love chicken congee a lot. My mom used to make a very heartly one dish dinner with chicken congee for us -- the thing she used a lot of that I loved the most was chung choy. And she had a lot of "toppings" for us -- chopped peanuts, chopped ginger, chopped green onions, julienned lettuce, and if she had any around, she also used chopped char siu pieces. I would load up my bowl of congee (or Jook) with all the toppings and go to town!!
Hi Alan! We still eat chicken jook/congee a lot, always so satisfying and feel good 🙂 Yes to all the toppings!
- Kathy