Congee or guk?

I’m interested in learning more about (especially savory) rice porridges.

I boil (or pressure cook) the hell out of leftover brown rice to try and get a congee and then top it with kimchee or Sichuanese pickles or whatever.

Right now I have some white (which I don’t really know much about)  jasmine rice in broth with a small pumpkin in the instant pot and I’m thinking about topping the porridge with leftover stirfried orange broccoli from last night. It’ll be edible for sure, but I’m always just pulling it out of my ass and making do.

How do I learn to do better? What are the broad rules? What’s your favorite?

There’s some talk about it in this rice thread

I didn't grow up in a culture that did any kind of rice porridge; maybe, at a push, I could count milky rice pudding, but that's a dessert and not a meal.  Anyway, I have no traditions surrounding it or expectations of flavor/ texture, so I've made it pretty much your way (rice and flavorful liquid in instant pot, with or without additional mush ingredients).  I usually get soupy rice more than a smooth, creamy texture because my rice is old and dry and actually the wrong kind, probably.  

I may try making a thinner version of the rice paste for kimchi made from glutinous rice flour and adding it into the wet rice after it's been cooked but not cooled, so it gets a kind-of-textured, kind-of-silky thing going.  

I've had mixed results with using the immersion blender when pumpkin was involved (I was going for a vegan pumpkin rice pudding dessert for one, and wanted to get a kind of half-assed risotto situation happening with the other); everything was edible, but it's not a technique I'll be repeating.  I just prefer everything chunky when I cook the two of them together.

Here's a list of Maangchi's porridge recipes.  

Here's a recipe from Just One Cookbook for one-dish herb congee.

I've learned a lot of basics of Korean and Japanese cooking from both of them.

The way I have been served congee was as a very plain base. It was white rice based but done pretty much with straight water so it was the rice version of oatmeal.
The reason is so everyone can customize as they want, like an oatmeal bar, but savoury.

When I make it for myself, I know what I want so those things are built in. First thing is the broth. I do it with tons of garlic, ginger, dried mushrooms, a few spices and some lemongrass. Chicken pieces are poached in it until cooked then the meat is stripped off and the bones, skin and bits are put back in.
After a few hours on the stove, it's strained and all but the mushrooms is thrown out. ( I put the mushrooms in dry and they tend be good for chopping by the time it's done)
Then the rice is cooked in the broth until it's broken down but not completely smooth. I do it a bit thicker than most restaurants. The poached chicken, the mushrooms, some fresh greens and maybe some dried fried onions are about all that are added to it aside from a drizzle of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
Very warm, comfortable and soothing and it freezes well.

Dian, that sounds amazing! You've got me hooked!

I’ve used this recipe https://delightfulplate.com/wprm_print/4235
and it was great.  I can’t really buy fish scraps (so irritating, in a town known for fishing!) and fish steaks are so expensive… but a friend gave me some fillets from his fishing hobby.

There’s also a Vietnamese place nearby that serves fish congee as an appetizer and it’s enough for the perfect comfort meal.

Oh, and this is not remotely a congee, but soothing savory rice:  from An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler

Rice and lettuce soup

1 1/2 onions medium diced
2 Tablespoons butter
Salt
1/3 parsley leaves roughly chopped
1/2 cup Arborio rice
8 1/2 cups chicken stock or chicken stock and water
1 very big head lettuce, romaine or crisp leaf, about 16 cups very loosely packed

Cook the onions in butter in a medium sized pot , adding salt to taste, until soft. Add parsley, rice and liquid. Let it cook for about 50 minutes until the rice is thoroughly cooked and getting ragged looking, then turn off the heat.

Whenever you’re ready to eat, slice the lettuce into thin ribbons, add it to the soup, and stir in.

I admit I rarely add the parsley (one can also use whatever herb you love) and play with the ratios a lot.  But it’s savory-soothing with bright lettuce crunch and ridiculously easy to make.

The book in general is charming with an emphasis on frugality.  There’s not a lot of spice action in it, but an emphasis on really enjoying good quality vegetables.

I used to make congee for an elderly dog.

I made it in the crockpot by just cooking rice a long time.

I like the regular rice that they sell at the grocery store.  I don't see that it is much different from Jasmine rice.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I’m interested in learning more about (especially savory) rice porridges.

I boil (or pressure cook) the hell out of leftover brown rice to try and get a congee and then top it with kimchee or Sichuanese pickles or whatever.

Right now I have some white (which I don’t really know much about)  jasmine rice in broth with a small pumpkin in the instant pot and I’m thinking about topping the porridge with leftover stirfried orange broccoli from last night. It’ll be edible for sure, but I’m always just pulling it out of my ass and making do.

How do I learn to do better? What are the broad rules? What’s your favorite?
There’s some talk about it in this rice thread

Christopher Weeks, your honesty is infectious!

Now, I don't necessarily prepare rice unless it's black, brown, or purple.

Black rice aka forbidden rice is so-named because it was once deemed too good for the common people and reserved only for royalty. Today, it's gained popularity as a super food or super nutritious food stuff. It's chewy, nutty, and reminiscent of oatmeal to me.

Speaking of oatmeal, it's my go-to rice substitute. Much easier to cook and highly versatile.

I've included pictures of my black/purple rice as well as savoury oatmeal.

Happy to share a link to my eCookBook and Social Media but I'd prefer that this response does not get flagged as SPAM.

I'm also on the blatant advertising thread discussing my eCookBook. Do check it out!