Ham Congee

Now you've probably never heard of Ham Congee before today and yes it does sound odd because it's not the traditional version like Century Egg or Chicken Congee. This ham congee is one I've grown up eating, usually after Christmas when the leg of ham we have served up for Christmas day doesn't all get eaten. So instead of throwing out the bone, Dad keeps it and boils it up with rice and Bob's your uncle - Ham Congee.


When I was in Woolies doing some grocery shopping there were some leftover leg hams at the deli counter being sold for really cheap. Around $2 each, with loads of meat still attached to them. They weren't going off or anything like that, just the leftover bone after carving slices off to sell. I knew straight away I'd make the ham congee, I wasn't willing to wait till after Christmas again (which is actually a bad time to have congee because it's summer and extremely hot and more the weather for cold cocktails....I digress). Ummm yeah so I figured I might as well attempt dads ham congee for the first time. After making 2 calls to determine how much rice I needed and how much water this is what I ended up with.....

Ingredients
Leftover ham leg bone (1.5-2kg)
1 1/2 cups rice
2 litres water
2 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Shallots/spring onions to garnish

Method

The leg bone with meat still attached

1. Slice as much meat as you like off the bone and set aside

2. Add the bone to the pot with enough water to cover it.

3. Allow to boil for 5mins to bring up all the impurities

4. Strain the bone and pour out the water.

5. Place the bone, sliced meat, rice, water and oil in the pot

6. Leave it on a gentle simmer for around 2 hours.
I would check it every now and again and stir it once in a while just to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom or getting too thick. Add more water if you find it a little too thick.

Garnish with extra pieces of ham and shallots